As part of iMAL Projects Office 2025, Maud is selected for a FabLab experimentation Residency, where she will work on her project " Rugit le Coeur "

Rugit le coeur

"After two intense years and the end of a six-year job, I entered a phase of relaxation and uncertainty about what would come next. While I welcomed this change, I also felt a deep fatigue, prompting reflection on the notions of “energy” and "fuel" in a personal sense. What fuels my practice? How can I recharge? To navigate these fluctuations of energy, I turn to yoga, meditation, and self-hypnosis—practices often dismissed as pseudo-scientific but effective for me.

This introspection led me to explore pseudo-scientific energy devices like Wilhelm Reich’s Orgone Box and the "Dreamachine", created by painter and poet Brion Gysin and programmer Ian Sommerville. Though dismissed by scientists, these devices captivated artists like William S. Burroughs. The 1960s and 1970s were fertile ground for esoteric and artistic experimentation that challenged societal norms. Gysin’s cut-up technique, later adopted by Burroughs and by punk figures like Kathy Acker to disrupt conventional language structures, is a notable example.

During the residency, I will create a series of sculptures freely inspired by the "Dreamachine"-a perforated cylinder rotating around a central light source, projecting rhythmic patterns of light onto closed eyelids to induce meditative states. Gysin envisioned it as both an artwork and a tool for transcendence.

Complementing this sculptural work, I will explore the concept of energy through the cut-up method, linking my personal experience to its broader economic, ecological, social, and mystic implications. In one experiment, I combined Duncan Smith's "On the Current Symbolic Status of Oil" with David Swenson's "Ashtanga Yoga: A Practice Manual," a yogi I had the chance to study and practice with. The resulting text juxtaposes the physicality of yoga with Smith's linguistic and symbolic analysis of oil."

I am a visual artist based in Brussels who mainly experiments with the way language and linguistic principles can be used to create visual and spatial narratives. These narratives are composed of publications, texts, drawings and sculptures that culminate in installations. My installations are often rooted in intimate stories and familiar objects, which I intertwine with wordplay, language games, and, above all, coincidences—such as slips of the pen or tongue.

My research leads me through history and past traditions, where I look for possible connections. This specific way of identifying relationships and patterns serves as a model for my narratives.

Recently, my sculptural practice has turned to experiment with organic materials and those from the domestic sphere. This research is accompanied by a growing interest in disciplines identified as 'feminine', 'passive' or 'minor', such as decoration and ornamentation, leisure and craft, alternative medicine, pseudo-science and mysticism. I examine how the aesthetics produced by these fields can serve as a form of subversion, challenging dominant cultural narratives.

I am interested in private lexicons, mixing texts, drawings and other mediums in ways that have internal logics not necessarily discernible to those outside. My work, often presented in minimal and very precise installation, acts as an abstract semiotic system that generate meanings via a process of interaction.

To discover more : https://www.maudgourdon.com

Credit for Maud Gourdon's portray : Maud Gourdon

Credit for "Rugit le Coeur" visual : Collage made by Maud Gourdon from images of "Wake up to Yoga" book of Lyn Marshall and the Dreamachine motif imagined by Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville.