Hydrogen atoms are the smallest in the periodic table. They were also among the first elements to emerge during the great primordial nucleosynthesis, three minutes after the Big Bang.
Tiny and elusive, they slip everywhere, infiltrating materials, even those we believe to be the densest and most invulnerable. Metals themselves are not immune: hydrogen sneaks in, corroding, fragmenting, and cracking them.
What if fragility were not a weakness, but a strength? An invitation to refine our perceptions, to remain alert and attentive to the world. In a reality that classifies, orders, and rigidifies, fragility struggles to find its place. Yet, it is within fragility that a lever for evolution and empathy resides—a form of care directed toward everything that surrounds us.
Rigidity is merely an illusion of solidity, while fragility, fluid and elusive, infiltrates everywhere, advancing relentlessly, driven by the very necessity of its movement.
This work was created in collaboration with Jamaa Bouhattate, a researcher at the LaSIE laboratory (Laboratory of Engineering Sciences for the Environment) at La Rochelle University, based on her research into hydrogen and microstructures.
Guillaume Cousin describes himself as a "researcher-builder." He lives and works on the Atlantic coast in the Vendée region. A set and lighting designer for live performance since the 2000s, he explores the writing of space and time. He is fascinated by the unconscious impact it has on us. His understanding of quantum physics triggered a need to create works outside the stage, primarily focusing on the notion of interaction, which lies at the heart of this science. It places us within a vast whole of matter. In this premise, ecology, empathy, and kindness are no longer just options for a clear conscience; they become facts, self-evident truths, because we are all part of the same great whole.
He seeks ways to reveal the vastness of these interactions by exploring the limits of our perceptions. Air, water, light, and time are his media. He uses them to reveal what happens on the fringes of our senses.
