Galerie Daniel Templon is delighted to present the first solo exhibition in Belgium by young French artist Prune Nourry. Contemporary Archeology sees Nourry transform the gallery space to recreate the experience of a contemporary archaeological site.

This new proposition relates directly to Terracotta Daughters, her long-term project featuring an army of girls, inspired by the Xi’an terracotta warriors, which Nourry buried in 2015 at a secret site in mainland China.

The 108 sculptures, homages to young girls never born, victims of gender selection, travelled the world during 2014, from Shanghai to Mexico City via Paris, Zurich and New York. They will remain buried until 2030, the year when the consequences of China’s one-child policy will peak, marking the moment when the country experiences the greatest gender imbalance ever seen.

Visitors to the Brussels gallery are taken on an immersive journey inside a space transformed using earth and a variety of artistic materials. Inside they encounter the works — bronze and terracotta sculptures and photographs — as well as the stages in Nourry’s creative process, which have become works of art in themselves, in the form of film and an installation evoking the processes that go on behind the scenes at her studio.

Born in 1985 in Paris, Prune Nourry lives and works in New York. She is interested in the fields of science and anthropology, particularly bioethical questions relating to the artificial evolution of humankind. She explores these issues with an artistic approach that combines sculpture, installations, performances and video. She is a socially-engaged artist, seeking to draw attention to issues that trouble her. Her work is participative, drawing extensively on contributions from academics and scientists.

In April 2017, Prune Nourry will be taking over all the rooms at the Musée Guimet in Paris for a large-scale solo show, inviting visitors on a journey through the permanent collections.