Zhuo Qi: On ne peut empêcher les oiseaux de malheur de voler au-dessus de nos têtes, mais peut-être pouvons-nous les empêcher d’y faire leur nid.

From 5 September to 24 October 2026, Les filles du calvaire presents “One cannot prevent birds of ill omen from flying over our heads, but perhaps we can prevent them from nesting there”, a solo exhibition by Zhuo Qi. Inspired by a widely known Chinese proverb, the title functions for the artist not as psychological consolation, but as a method for approaching materials, history and the body.

The exhibition brings together three major strands of Zhuo Qi’s recent practice: the “Bubble Game” series, a large column-like installation combining Mohele and children’s toy moulds, and “Balancing Ball”. Together, the works create a space between repair, play, ritual and archaeological fiction.

In “Bubble Game”, fragmented images drawn from history, religious sculpture and ancient stone forms are combined with transparent, fragile blown-glass volumes. Rather than restoring what is missing, the glass transforms absence into a visible and suspended presence, evoking both playfulness and historical violence.

The column installation brings popular traditions and children’s toys into an invented archaeological structure, exploring the ambiguous relationship between belief and play. “Balancing Ball” reinterprets the palanquin pole, traditionally associated with labour and carrying weight, in porcelain, introducing a crystal ball to create instability and a reflection on the burdens of culture, memory, identity and everyday life.

Across the exhibition, humour does not imply lightness, nor does repair mean healing. Zhuo Qi explores the spaces between the broken and the whole, the ancient and contemporary, and real archaeology and fictional civilisation.