SÈTE.- The Crac Occitanie presents the work of Alice Brygo (born in 1996 in Montpellier), in the context of the Prix Occitanie Médicis, which she won in 2023. The exhibition Vertiges consists of a new video and sound installation produced for the occasion, entitled Montagne profane, and a film shot in 2022: Le Mal des ardents.

At the intersection between cinema and video installation, Alice Brygo develops a hybrid visual universe that combines fantasy cinema, science fiction, and documentary. Her work often explores the worries that pervade the contemporary world, particularly those of the artist’s own generation.

Building new narratives, shooting films in the way one would write an initiatory tale of the 21st century: these are ways of attempting to live among the ruins of capitalism, at the heart of a world dominated by productivity, capital accumulation, the individual desire to succeed, and the spirit of competition.

The video installation Montagne profane, exhibited for the first time at the Crac Occitanie, condenses a certain number of themes that are dear to the artist. In it, she develops a strange, melancholic story around the sites of various artificial mountains, those found in zoos, water parks or climbing centres… Amid this dystopian scenery, several characters are evolving in unclear quests, in-between hike and survival.

In her artist’s statement, Alice Brygo presents this new project as a “critical and ambivalent dialogue between different symbolic systems to which the mountain has been subject, from the spiritual journey its ascension represents, to the control of nature that our architectural imitation suggests”.

Marie Cozette

The prix Occitanie Médicis

The exhibition Vertiges is produced in partnership with the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici in the context of the Prix Occitanie Médicis.

The Prix Occitanie Médicis was introduced by the Occitanie region in 2018 in close collaboration with the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici. Its aim is to discover, support and promote Occitanie’s emerging talents on the international stage. The prize involves a yearly call for submissions, and the winner is selected by an international jury, based on a proposed project for the Villa Medici.