Slim Cheltout, born 1984 in Tunisia, Northern Africa
lives and works in Tours, France
Stay at Schafhof: Spring 2024
Slim Cheltout is particularly fond of shaping kinetic mechanisms by playing with movement and light, somewhere between painting and sculpture; the mechanical bodies present reveal, on the one hand, complex, interlocking cogs, and on the other, the multiple noises of the machine in action.
The machine represents a particular relationship to creation, as it becomes a «living» entity, interacting with the viewer, autonomous, meticulously crafted, yet freeing itself from its creator to become an autonomous «body». It’s the various interacting materials that dictate the rules, which he try to tame in a kind of orchestration of noise, light and movement....
When activated, the machine, a functional extension of man, responds with noise, motors, cogs, lights, friction, squeaks, heat and smell. Elements remarkably similar to the functioning of society, the motor as core and heart, sensors as senses... Activated by the intervention or displacement of the viewer, mechanisms are activated, creating a relational interface between body and object, which when in operation, immerse us in pictorial spaces.
Through a nomadic approach, he construct and stage the painting as a living, unmanufactured «handmade» architecture. The canvas becomes a sensitive, sensory surface that comes to life when confronted by the passing spectator, embedded in a machinery of movement, light and sound. The moving, vibrating image offers a fleeting, evanescent experience of representation; suspended time, an invitation to contemplate the material at work.
Booklet about the AIR-Program
for screen
(PDF, A4, 11 pages, 864 KB)
print quality
(PDF, A4, 11 pages, 14,8 MB)
The artist-in-residence program takes place in the framework of the European Art Fellowship of the District Council of Upper Bavaria.
During the stay of the guest artists in Freising presentations and open studio days provide the possibility to meet with and know more about the artists. There is always the option to arrange individual visits and meetings as well.