Honoré δ’O

40 Days in the Desert 

Conceived by Honoré δ’O for the large square room at MACS, the exhibition Quarantaine−Quarantine consists of a vast installation in which the Belgian artist evokes the “retreat into the desert” he undertook for 40 days as part of his residency in Marfa (Texas) in 2024. As its title suggests through the double meaning of the French word “quarantaine”, (both “around forty (days)” and “quarantine”), the project combines the experience of spiritual introspection with that of physical isolation. Installed in a mobile home, away from urban and social life, Honoré d’O immersed himself during this time in the surrounding landscape: the Chihuahuan Desert, an arid, ascetic space in perfect harmony with the principle of permanent reinvention that has fueled his artistic approach since the 1990s. A habitat for both nomads and hermits, on the edge of organised territories that are constantly "biting” into and nibbling away at it, the desert becomes in particular a metaphor for resistance against all forms of conquest (spatial, military, territorial, commercial). Among the many situations documented by the artist, the construction site (by 3D printing) of the El Cosmico hotel near Mount Haystack sums up in a disturbing “hasard objectif” this ironic look that Honoré δ'O takes at our relationship with open space, with this cosmos now offered, like a tourist product, to a new generation of pioneers.