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Still from The Story of Fixity (2025) by Noémie Goudal.

The Story of Fixity

Noémie Goudal

14.11.25 - 25.01.26

Status: Complete

The Story of Fixity is an ambitious new installation where an immersive three-channel film permeates into the space in which it is presented. 

The element of water sits at the heart of this project and for the first time takes centre stage in the artist’s meticulous research. 

Colourless, odourless and flavourless, this ubiquitous substance has many forms and functions. Goudal reflects on its paradoxical role in shaping our terrestrial landscapes; as a key transporter of minerals from one land to another, that form and nourish ecosystems; and as an essential element with the power to sustain and destroy life on earth. 

Project presentations

Still from The Story of Fixity (2025) by Noémie Goudal.
"I often wonder if our relationship to nature can only operate through the senses that we possess, particularly our visual perception. This questioning, and my research in hydrology and hydrogeology have led me to create The Story of Fixity.  This project presents a desynchronised version of the water cycles I was exploring, where all the particles that water transports, from one land to another, are made visible through the use of hyper-colour." - Noémie Goudal

Across three screens, Goudal pairs the cycles of water with the rhythms of day and night, bringing together universally understood rhythms with new scientific research. 

Colour is a key component in Goudal’s latest exploration.  The mesmerising triptych loops from a desaturated palette to vibrant hues and back again. Layers wash away to reveal new images, the visible flow evokes rivers and streams that flow through our planetary ecosystems, making and remaking landscapes. 

Within the space, droplets descend from the ceiling and leak from the screen, slowly forming coloured pools at the feet of the audience. 

Questioning our understanding of the natural world is a recurring theme in Goudal’s practice, and while the artist consistently puts nature in the frame, her intention is to make us aware that our perception and imagination of nature has been influenced by many forces. 

Goudal’s most ambitious installation to date incorporates painting, photography and moving image, drawing together myriad protagonists and mediums that have collectively shaped the story of nature across centuries. 

The title itself is an ironic nod to an impossible human endeavour - the attempt to fix a narrative around our changing and dynamically evolving environment. 

"The three films at the heart of The Story of Fixity show a photographic backdrop in constant flux. The landscape goes from night to day, questioning the unshakable 'world order’ created by sunrise and sunset.  To this, I added another step, transforming the land into its ‘hypercoloured' self.The world is often perceived as a fixed entity with our borders and determined territories. What I have wanted to highlight through my installation is how we can re-integrate into our fixed or certain ‘world order’ - it’s movements and circulations,  with its systems of interconnection such as the water cycles." - Noémie Goudal
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Noémie Goudal in conversation with Sarah Dry

On 9 December 2025, Noémie Goudal was joined in conversation by Sarah Dry, writer and historian of science. In a conversation chaired by Artangel Director, Mariam Zulfiqar, the pair discussed Goudal’s major new commission for Artangel, The Story of Fixity, and their mutual interest in the history of science, particularly water, which are the focus for both this ambitious new installation and Dry's research.

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Noémie Goudal

Based in Paris, Noémie Goudal is represented by Edel Assanti Gallery in London and is a graduate of the Royal College of Art. Her work was recently featured in the Sharjah Biennial 2025 (UAE) and she was shortlisted for the Prix Marcel Duchamp in 2024.

Goudal’s practice centres on the creation of illusionistic, ambitious installations staged within natural landscapes, documented through film and photography. Her work is grounded in rigorous research at the intersection of ecology and anthropology, questioning our theoretical understandings of the natural world. Goudal is particularly interested in the human perception of time and the intrinsic connections between humanity and nature, including the transformations that landscapes undergo over time.

Credits