CLICKBAIT
Parasitized by a network of giant tentacles, the Metaxu gallery is transformed into a 2.0 lair for the solo exhibition of Charles-Arthur Feuvrier Fok-Shan. His organic, monochrome installation unfolds like the rhizomatic structures of flora and software, taking over the entire space and spreading into every nook and cranny. Following the offshoots and tape cords, the visitor carves a path toward a crooked and orphaned sculpture, hidden away in a room shielded from view.
At its center, a captive screen surrounded by garish signage provocatively draws our gaze to literally embody the CLICKBAIT. It loops grotesquely photoshopped images and steroid-enhanced thumbnails specific to YouTube. The video compiles a selection of cryptids—those animals whose existence is assumed without any proof—thus overturning the roles of hunter and hunted.
Is CLICKBAIT an ode to networks and sensationalism? Rather, the exhibition serves as a temporary space where the distortions of beliefs, myths, and vision are examined, where creatures and discourses are out of sync with reality. CLICKBAIT becomes a whimsical critical examination of the consumption of cultural objects, but also an opening to the possible fantasies heralded by today’s legends disguised as the future.»
- Alexia Abed
CLICKBAIT, Installation view, masking tap, kraft paper, wood, screens, video loop 2:36.metaxu, Toulon, 2023. Photo credit, Virginie Sanna.
