Céline Mathieu is an artist and writer, whose practice arranges sound, scent, text, sculptural elements and performance in space. Her work is often both sensory and conceptual, and tends to be site-and condition-specific. In her PD-research project ‘Conditions for Raw Materials’, Céline examines what it means to “sustain” an artistic practice by addressing three fundamental challenges in contemporary art: the life of material before and after the exhibition; the value of art and the labour that goes into it; and the place of text as a tool to mediate, archive and speculate exhibitions. Using her exhibitions alongside auto-theoretical writing reflections, the PD-project seeks to question notions of value in contemporary art, developing an alternative economic model while making visible the material, financial, and relational flows within exhibitions.

The PD is supervised by Ties van de Werff (Zuyd), Christoph Rausch (UCM) and Floris Cramer (Hogeschool Rotterdam).

Céline Mathieu, ‘Throat’ (detail), 2025, ribbed, smooth and rusted layering with an optical in-between, acrylic cases. Courtesy of the artist and of Gauli Zitter

Portrait by Vika Paskelyte