Maxime Houot, the artistic director of Collectif Coin, has created a device that conceptually translates Albert Einstein's theory of relativity using movement, sound and light. Abstract is a performance artefact (a 20-minute loop) which plays with the notion of time by using the vertical movement of light structures that act as a gigantic kinetic sculpture which reproduces the spatiotemporal curvatures that attempt to draw the paradigm proposed by Einstein. The unrestrained attention and immobile body recall the words that describe the intimate paradox that any human being develops in relation to time: “My head remains in the past while my feet forge the future”.  It is also a way of understanding the complex relationship we have with time. In spite of the scientific evidence that seems to confirm the theory of relativity, we are still, to all intents and purposes, in an illusion that places us on a line between the past, the present and the future.

Maxime Houot’s visual and sound pieces have grabbed the attention of the international scene since 2013. Exploring the limits of his own perception, he deploys a practice that is both artisanal and conceptual. Artisanal because gesture, fabrication and the obsessive accumulation of simple shapes are the basis of his work. Although one could use the term ‘digital artist’, contact with matter, machines and objects is fundamental in his work. This artisanal gesture is the starting point for a conceptual approach. Given his degree in applied physics, the world around him has always been a source of fascination and wonder. Time that does not flow, relative reality, digitalisation of the void and human beings as digital machines are concepts that accompany him and fuel his imagination. Most of his creations are produced by the company Collectif Coin, which he also uses to experiment with new creative lines and to engage in creative collaboration with other artists.