Noémie Goudal constructs illusionistic interventions in the landscape, captured through photography, film and sound. Deploying scenography and staging devices, she expands photography beyond its conventional parameters into immersive installations, informed by her interest in paleoclimatology. While human temporality does not align with the deep time of geological processes, she seeks to visualise the effort that goes into making the landscape.

Created for the Prix Marcel Duchamp, Supra Strata (2024) is a single channel film projecting a flourishing ecosystem dissolving in an acid storm. The artist leaves visual clues or ‘flaws’ for the viewer that signal the trompe l’oeil construction; she does not use software to manipulate the image, but prefers physical, artisanal methods that play on perspectives. While Goudal’s work retraces the evolution of the landscape without humans, here her motivation shifts from the study of ancient climates to the discovery and formal classification of plastic, or ‘plastiglomerate’, among sedimentary rocks. Over the course of the film, her construction is revealed — a dazzling tragedy of the landscape.

Goudal’s Terrella sculptures (2023) draw on the history of Earth sciences and on significant theories about the Earth’s formation, from antiquity to the present day. Some of these theories turned out to be true, others false or still unresolvable. The term ‘terrella’, Latin for ‘little earth’, refers to a small ball serving as a model of our planet. The Terrella sculptures are a methodology for contemplating humanity’s evolving understanding of the world’s form and constant state of transformation. Using scenography techniques, the sculptures are interwoven with the artist’s now iconic photographic works of architectural constructions including Observatoires (2013-2014).

Finally, Rocks (2024) is a meditation on the vast timescales embedded in rock formations, highlighting the imperceptible processes that shape landscapes, from tectonic pressure to sedimentation. This projection onto print prompts reflection, once again, on the concept of deep time. Goudal’s work transcends the physicality of materials, encouraging viewers to consider how these natural structures have formed and evolved. While we understand that rocks erode over time, in the moment, they seem enduring.

Tilt is curated by Mary Conlon and Linda Shevlin. The exhibition is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and Leitrim County Council.

Noémie Goudal (b.1984) graduated from the Royal College of Art (UK) in 2010 with an MA in Photography. She was shortlisted for the Prix Marcel Duchamp 2024.

Solo exhibitions include Contours of Certainty, Mostyn, Llandudno, UK (2024); Inhale Exhale, FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France (2024); ANIMA, Tate Modern, London, UK; Venice Theatre Biennale, Venice, Italy and Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2023); Post Atlantica, Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France (2022); ANIMA, Festival d’Avignon, Avignon, France (2022); Décantations, La Vitrine, Frac Île-de-France, Paris, France (2022); Post Atlantica, Le Grand Café Centre d’Art Contemporain, Saint-Nazaire, France (2021); Echos toujours plus sourds, Musée Delacroix, Paris, France (2021); Observatorium, Kunstverein Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany (2019); Telluris, Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Ballarat, Australia (2019); Telluris, Musée des Beaux-Arts Le Locle, Le Locle, Switzerland (2019); Stations, The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland (2018); Southern Light Stations, The Photographer’s Gallery, London, UK (2016); The Geometrical Determination of the Sunrise, FOAM Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2015).

Selected group exhibitions include Second Nature: Photography at the Age of the Anthropocene, Nasher Museum, Durham, NC, USA (2024-2026); Un Manifeste du regard sur la Nouvelle Aquitaine, Frac Nouvelle-Aquitaine La MÉCA, Bordeaux, France (2024); New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, USA (2024); PHOTO 24, Melbourne Photo Biennale, Melbourne, Australia (2024); Bella Vista, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Sant-Nazaire, France (2021); Accelerate Your Escape: Gary Hume Explores the Hiscox Collection, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2020); Inner Space, Lisbon Architecture Triennale, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal (2019); MELTDOWN: A Visualization of Climate Change, Horniman Museum, London, UK (2019).

Goudal’s work is held in public collections including Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK; FOAM Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France; Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, India; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; and The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK.

The artist is represented by Edel Assanti Gallery, London.