The Eden Summer Institute is a situated, evolving artwork that takes place in Eden, North Carolina. It gathers people, practices, and conversations into a shared time and space.

Grafted-Memory-System (extract II) by Ugo Schiavi

Screened from August 18 to September 18, 2025
Grafted-Memory-System (extract II) by Ugo Schiavi
Grafted-Memory-System (extract II) by Ugo Schiavi
Grafted-Memory-System (extract II) by Ugo Schiavi
Grafted-Memory-System (extract II) by Ugo Schiavi

Grafted-Memory-System (extract II), 8'31'', Film 4K, 4:3, stereo

Presentation

At the origin of a form of archaeology of the future, Ugo Schiavi’s work explores the tensions between history and fiction. Entitled Grafted Memory System, his hybrid landscape—both mechanical and natural—gradually invades the grand hall of the Guimet Museum, abandoned for several years. Fossils and bones fuse with human waste, while cables and vegetation intertwine. Integrated into data centers, screens display 3D images of architectural fragments from the museum, composite objects, and plants in full growth. This technological-organic ecosystem reveals an altered vision of nature, one that speaks as much to its fragility as to its resilience.

Time no longer exists. Past, present, and future merge; organic and synthetic agglomerate; material and virtual coalesce. The world has become a constantly changing organism where the exchange of information takes place in a continuous flow.

Grafted Memory System is a technological-organic ecosystem emerging from the unconscious of our post-digital societies. Torn between the memory of a founding origin and the myth of unlimited progress, a disused natural history museum is transformed into a data center. Cables and plants intertwine. Fossils and bones merge with human waste. The future seems to have been abandoned.

Biography

UGO SCHIAVI (1987, FR) is a visual artist whose sculptural practice explores the friction between past and present through hybrid forms. Blending contemporary materials with classical references, his work evokes a fictional archaeology where monuments appear fractured, mutating, and charged with collective memory.

His installations confront the linearity of time, imagining a universal heritage in flux.He creates immersive, large-scale environments that navigate between strength and fragility, history and speculation. His work has been presented at the Lyon Biennale (2022), Centre d’Art Bastille (Grenoble), Nuit Blanche (Paris), Noor Riyadh Festival, Bienalsur (Riyadh, 2023), and Manifesta 15 in Barcelona (2024).

Credits

CGI : François Gouret 
Sound design : Anthony Belguise 
Editing produced as part of the Eden Summer Institute.

Cinema

Num Film Date Lenght Period Type
001
Just a good crash
by David De Beyter David De Beyter
2016 6 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Documentary • Art
002
Auto-Sculpture I
by David De Beyter David De Beyter
2015 5 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Documentary • Art
003
Auto-Sculpture II
by David de Beyter David de Beyter
2017 3 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Documentary • Art
004
Auto-Sculpture III
by David de Beyter David de Beyter
2017 13 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Documentary • Art
005
A Greatest Possible Distance
by Fred Cave Fred Cave
2015 4 min (Loop) 08.18. — 09.18.25 Experimental • 3D
006
Love: A simulation of the revelation of Simone Weil
by Joe Cave Joe Cave
2023 6 min (Loop) 08.18. — 09.18.25 Experimental • AI
007
Thug Roi, Extraordinary Rendezvous with My Brother
by Pierre Gaignard Pierre Gaignard
2016 48 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Fiction • Musical
008
Fingertips
by Olivier Jonvaux Olivier Jonvaux
2024 06 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Experimental • Musical • 3D
009
Pirovano
by Olivier Jonvaux Olivier Jonvaux
2020 15 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Experimental • 3D
010
Illusion
by Antoine Renard Antoine Renard
2025 9 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 AI
011
Catharenthus roseus 2020
by Antoine Renard Antoine Renard
2020- 4 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Experimental • AI
012
Crypto-pharmakopoeia
by Antoine Renard Antoine Renard
2020 10 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Experimental • AI
013
Untitled Performance
by Céleste Rogosin Céleste Rogosin
2021 10 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Performance
014
The Edge of Eternity
by Céleste Rogosin Céleste Rogosin
2025 12 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Experimental • 3D
015
corporating/discorporating
by Anhar Salem, Shakeeb Abu Hamdan Anhar Salem, Shakeeb Abu Hamdan
2025 6 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Experimental • AI
016
Love & Revenge
by Anhar Salem Anhar Salem
2022 31 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Docu-Fiction
017
Grafted-Memory-System (extract I)
by Ugo Schiavi Ugo Schiavi
2022 6 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Archeology • 3D
018
Grafted-Memory-System (extract II)
by Ugo Schiavi Ugo Schiavi
2022 8 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Archeology • 3D
019
One Thousand and One Attempts to Be an Ocean
by Yuyan Wang Yuyan Wang
2022 11 min 08.18. — 09.18.25 Experimental • Musical
The Eden Summer Institute will take place from August 18 to September 18, 2025, in Eden, North Carolina, throughout Rockingham County, and abroad.

WITH : Kuralai Abdukhalikova, Tom Barbour, Lou Bellegarde, Rebecca Bengal, Justine Bernachon, David de Beyter, Joe Cave, Zoé Chauvet, Aminah Coppage, Sylvain Couzinet-Jacques, Josie Curran, Eva Díaz, Albane Duvillier, Brendan Embser, Pierre Gaignard, Daniel Fabian Gonzalez, Michelle Heavener, SayaKa Hickey, Lee Ortiz, Jesse Hoyle, Laurent Isler, Olivier Jonvaux, Antoine Langlois, Jalaya Moore, Kasia Ozga, Antoine Renard, Céleste Rogosin, Elliot Rogosin, Anhar Salem, Ugo Schiavi, Katelyn Shaifer, Henry Shaughnessy, Amit Shilo, Amber Smith, Brad Spencer, Sara Wallgren, Yuyan Wang, Molly Wilson, RaShaun Wilson.

Eden received the first Immersion commission awarded by the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès and Aperture Foundation in 2015. The Eden Summer Institute is supported by the Reidsville Area Foundation, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, Villa Albertine, and agnès b. It is operated by FAFA Rockingham County, with the support of the Salvation Army of Eden, University of North Carolina Greensboro, The Eden Preservation Society, Barbour Studio & Gallery, Russell's Starter & Alternator, Clarence Hale Motor Sales, individuals, and friends.