Clément Cogitore Ferdinandea, l’île éphémère

Between late June and mid-July 1831, underwater volcanic activity gave rise to a new island in the Mediterranean, in the Sicilian Channel opposite Tunisia. While sailors and inhabitants of neighboring coasts feared the awakening of a sea monster, the new territory aroused the curiosity of scientists and the covetousness of European powers in the throes of colonial expansion. Within weeks, the island was claimed for its strategic position by Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, among others. However, the competition was short-lived: barely six months after its appearance, the newly-formed island sank beneath the waves of the Mediterranean. Its many names, however, remain recorded in European archives: "Ferdinandea" for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in honour of King Ferdinand II of Bourbon, "Julia" for the French in reference to the July Monarchy and "Graham" for the English after Sir James Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty. Now slumbering at a depth of just a few metres, the basaltic rock is being closely monitored by seismologists. Could a new eruption at any moment cause it to resurface, once again sparking geopolitical manoeuvring and the logic of exploitation and exclusion by imperialist powers?

Through the films, videos and photographs created for the exhibition, artist-philosopher Clément Cogitore speculates on the volcano's emergence, fall and possible re-emergence. Somewhere between documentary and fiction, his metaphorical intuition orchestrates premonitions, popular beliefs, archive documents, scientific and cartographic surveys: in his hands, "Ferdinandea" becomes a mirror of different relationships to the world and possible futures.

According to Cogitore's multi-faceted narrative, "Ferdinandea" constitutes a submerged utopia/dystopia, a place of all possibilities from which the artist invites us to rethink the space of the "Middle Sea".

Curated by
Kathryn Weir, art historian and curator
Hélia Paukner, Heritage Curator, Head of Contemporary Art, Mucem
Enguerrand Lascols, Heritage Curator, Domestic Life Department, Mucem

Initially shown at MADRE (Donnaregina Museum of Contemporary Art, Naples, June 24 - September 12, 2022), the Marseilles version of the exhibition will benefit from the loan of new archives, a new scenographic concept and an enriched exhibition catalog. Among the fifty or so works and archives on show at the Mucem (16 mm film, videos, photographs, graphic arts, archival documents, paintings), six works by Clément Cogitore will be presented, including five never before shown in France, with private and public, French and international loans.


Open house Wednesday, December 10, 4pm.