Current is the watercourse, forced to carve its way along the mountainside, to hollow out its furrows under the impulse of its own flow. It is a path without destination, moving blindly and tracing itself as it goes. From the day streams and rivulets were diverted to bring water into villages, it became necessary to determine the exact gradient of the channels so that water could travel long distances. These conduits had to be structured into several parts, into sequences, in order to extend themselves.

The sculptures of Hélène Janicot have taken shape in the same way, out of necessity. They came into being through movement; their weight, their scale, and their inclination are the consequences. These lines, these sticks, are resting here like markers that punctuating space, while at the same time simply resting in a transitional state, for the duration of the exhibition. As the sculptures appear both ‘folded’ and ‘unfolded,’ the exhibition space itself is extensible, stretching into the gallery’s basement.

Everything in Hélène Janicot’s practice encourages the constant circulation of materials. Scraps, discarded objects retrieved from public spaces along her daily routes, or remnants scattered across the floor of her studio, provide the raw matter for every act of transformation. The common denominator of these fragments is their peripheral nature. The artist turns her gaze toward the edges, the corners, the barks that wrap, that enclose, always suggesting a content, whether in relief or in section.

In the same movement, Hélène Janicot seeks out the smallest distinctive traits that allow anything to become a signifier. An o inside an O inside an O, or a spinning top? This semiological passion drives the artist to ask what transforms a mere into a little something. It is with the same economy and precision that she executes each of her works and sketches the exhibition setting.

Current is not to be read as a story, but as a poem. Its narration is non-linear. It is punctuated with silences. It is a whole in which, as Hélène Janicot would say: “each isolated fragment only makes sense in relation to another.” Current calls to be read and reread.

— Katia Leonelli & Hélène Janicot
(translated from the original French text)