Wood, magnets, and iron dust are the components and also the title of Paris-based Véronique Joumard’s new project for Proxy Gallery. Strong, circular magnets are fixed to the outside of a wooden box. The magnets attract the iron dust placed inside, which gathers into bushy shapes like a desert landscape in miniature, formed by its own gravity.

Scientific and magical phenomena are closely connected with art and its ability to elicit wonder. Joumard’s work demystifies the magic by naming the exhibition by its own materials. The unique scale of the gallery also allows us to see both inside and outside the frame, revealing “how it is done.”

Veronique Joumard has a long history of using electricity, conductivity, lenses, mirrors, light and fire in her installations edging towards precariousness or even danger. In the case of magnets and iron dust, the work prompts associations to minimalist experiments and also the rich metaphorical connotations of words like enlightenment, attraction, repulsion, current and energy.