AN IMPENDING DISASTER (COLLABORATIONS) | CLAUDIA COMTE
The practice of Claudia Comte (Grancy, 1983) is multidisciplinary, featuring site-specific installations that intertwine painting, sculpture, and design in a combination of modernist and pop elements. Comte employs both artisanal techniques and industrial technologies, incorporating references to natural forms—such as the cactus, which has become an iconic element in her body of work—reinterpreted in a playful and dynamic way. Her aim is to propose a narrative that conveys awareness of environmental issues while demonstrating a strong commitment, both present and future, to preserving the balance of ecosystems.
An Impending Disaster (collaborations)—a 2023 installation presented at LagoAlgo in Mexico City as part of the group exhibition Desert Flood—addresses urgent themes: the artist plays with shapes and surfaces, creating an immersive environment that encourages deep critical reflection on desertification. Drawing inspiration from a quote by David Attenborough and Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, the artist emphasizes the importance of collaboration in tackling global ecological challenges. Desertification serves as the central theme, with cactus-shaped sculptures emerging from a sand-covered floor, symbolizing resilience and survival in inhospitable conditions.
Comte does not address the issue in a direct manner but enriches its meaning by concealing it behind a cartoonish representation that references American pop culture. The cacti, in fact, interact within the exhibition space with paintings hung on the walls, featuring onomatopoeic inscriptions such as “HAHAHAHA.”
Laughter, seemingly lighthearted and frivolous, becomes an expression of a complex and far from trivial situation: it can be interpreted as an explicit and boisterous hilarity echoing from the worlds of politics and polluting industries, representing a power that is intentionally blind and reckless, “HAHAHA”; or as a disenchanted response from society to the ecological crisis, a desire to change habits that ultimately proves ineffective, “HAHA.”
An Impending Disaster (collaborations) cleverly plays with the contrast between aesthetic lightness—not only in the choice of materials but also in the use of soft colors—and the gravity of the themes explored. The walls, covered in geometric and abstract lines, define the installation, creating a cohesive backdrop for the cactus-shaped sculptures.
The irony and social critique embedded in the artwork transform the exhibition space into a place where art is not only a tool for reflection but also for action. Comte invites the audience to consider the urgent need for collective action in response to the devastation that is already altering our world. “HAHAHAHAHA.”
Claudia Comte
An Impending Disaster (collaborations)
Exhibition view at LagoAlgo, Mexico City, February 2023
Photo: Ramiro Chaves
Courtesy the artist
© Studio Claudia Comte
Claudia Comte, An Impending Disaster (collaborations).
Exhibition view at LagoAlgo, Mexico City, February 2023. Photo: Ramiro Chaves. Courtesy the artist. © Studio Claudia Comte.
08/03/25