gm project evokes the course and drift of George Montandon, doctor, anthropologist and explorer Swiss-French, born in Cortaillod in Switzerland on April 19, 1879, died in August 1944, shot by the Resistance. A supporter of the Bolshevik Revolution and a member of the Swiss Communist Party around 1920, he later became a theorist of scientific racism, an inspiration for Celine, a collaborator and an anti-Semite.
gm project, 2019
Galerie Triangle Bleu, Stavelot, Belgique
At the age of thirty, in 1909, Montandon spent eleven months exploring south-western Ethiopia, particularly Ghimirra, a region close to Sudan, travelling through unknown lands. On his return to Switzerland, he published the account of his journey. The detailed descriptions, illustrated with photographs, diagrams and maps cover all aspects of life in the southwestern provinces. The unpublished documents he published opened up the most eminent geographical societies in England, France, Italy and Switzerland, where he was called upon to give lectures.
The question of eugenics, which underlies this work throughout, is now discreetly present in biomedical practices that promote procreation (gene therapy, pre-implantation or prenatal diagnosis, reproductive cloning or genetic therapy).
This is a completely different eugenics than the one practiced in the first half of the 20th century. Unlike state eugenics practiced in the past, contemporary eugenics does not seek to modify the human species and is not imposed. It is a private, negative eugenics, freely chosen by parents, legitimized by neo-liberal ideology. Since people who choose surrogate mothers and donor fathers, or who decide to eliminate a crippled fetus act on a strictly private and individual basis, what right do they have to interfere with their freedom?