'En chaîne et en or' – Silina Syan's Exhibition at Confort Moderne
- Loïse Pannier
- Feb 20, 2025
- 3 min read
Until April 13, 2025, Confort Moderne in Poitiers is hosting En chaîne et en or, the first major solo exhibition by Silina Syan. This visual and sensory experience delves into the paradoxes of everyday life, the illusion of luxury, and the reflections of globalization through striking images and installations.
An Exhibition Inspired by Contemporary Culture
The title of the exhibition references Boulbi by Booba, directly connecting Syan’s work to the world of rap and bling culture. She constructs an immersive journey where everyday images are transformed into symbols of accessible—sometimes artificial—luxury. Her keen eye lingers on objects, storefronts, and mundane rituals, elevating them to reveal their cultural richness.
The exhibition is punctuated with 21st-century icons: Bollywood cinema, TikTok trends, fast food chains—elements that illustrate a world where cultures continuously merge and redefine themselves.
Silina Syan: An Artist Between Multiple Worlds
A graduate of Villa Arson in Nice, Silina Syan comes from a multicultural background—her father is Bengali, her mother Armenian, and she grew up in Paris. Her photographic work draws from these diverse influences to highlight hybrid identities and social realities often overlooked.
From a young age, she photographed her surroundings, a habit that carries into this exhibition, where each image tells a fragment of her story and those of the people around her.
A Journey Through Photography, Installations, and Video
From the moment visitors step in, a striking installation captures their attention: on a wallpapered wall, an accumulation of photographs is displayed. Portraits of loved ones, images of Parisian shops, and scenes from the artist’s first trip to Bangladesh intermingle. This overwhelming visual density underscores themes of overconsumption and the devaluation of objects.
At the heart of the exhibition is Sonar Bangla, a reconstructed fast-food setting where a video features the artist narrating a story. The backdrop is dominated by a mural of Ahsan Manzil, a historic palace in Bangladesh that once housed the Nawab family of Dhaka. A symbol of wealth and power during the colonial period, this imposing pink monument embodies the opulence of a bygone era while serving as a testament to the country’s cultural and economic transformations. Within the exhibition, it creates a dialogue between tradition and modernity.
Sonar Bangla Installation
The centerpiece of the show is a new creation: a long curtain of golden chains embedded with miniature portraits of Tawaifs—elite dancers and musicians of the Mughal Empire who played a central role in aristocratic culture as artists and intellectuals. Highly educated, they mastered poetry, music, and classical dance, influencing society far beyond their imposed status as courtesans after British colonization. This striking piece bridges the past with contemporary bling aesthetics, while the use of AI to generate the portraits raises questions about authenticity and image.
Another highlight is Pink Paradise, a video in which the artist adorns herself with kitschy jewelry, echoing the girly aesthetics omnipresent in the exhibition. Similarly, Everyday Tales of Bidyakut immerses viewers in everyday life in Bangladesh, filmed with great poetry, capturing the intimate connections within a family.
Pink Paradise et Everyday Tales of Bidyakut
An interactive installation invites visitors to take selfies in front of an AI-generated paradise landscape. This final trompe-l'œil encapsulates the exhibition’s core themes: kitsch, portraiture, object accumulation, illusory opulence, and artificial dreams.
A Personal Perspective on En chaîne et en or
Among the various photographic series presented, J’aurais pas osé particularly stood out to me. In these images, the artist’s hands, adorned with long acrylic nails, hold everyday objects like a kebab. This juxtaposition of sophistication and the mundane creates a striking contrast, reminiscent of Instagram stories’ aesthetics.
Silina Syan masterfully captures the beauty of the ephemeral, the accessibility of luxury, and the illusions crafted by consumer culture. En chaîne et en or is a powerful exhibition—playful yet critical—that challenges our perception of images, objects, and culture. A must-see immersive experience at Confort Moderne until April 13, 2025.
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