LOU MASDURAUD

Turbulent Egg in a Womb in my Head

Stainless steel, aluminium, bronze, travertine, spoons, sink drains, water, pump system, 2026

Fountains play a central role in the public realm: some provide water for everyday use, while others stage spectacular sculptures of idealised gods and heroes from antiquity. With Turbulent Egg in a Womb in my Head, Lou Masduraud flips the perspective on its head by imagining the body from within, as something felt, inhabited and experienced.

The work, which takes the form of a life-bearing womb, is set into the earth of the park, itself a source of growth. At the base of the basin, a bronze placenta channels circulating flows, setting liquids into turbulent motion and suggesting as yet unrealised promise. The artist draws on her own experience of pregnancy, treating the womb as a space through which biological life, family lineage and social structures are reproduced – a deeply intimate space that society nevertheless surrounds with norms and expectations, embodied here in the word “Dream” beside the basin. The piece also resonates with the history of the park, founded by a mother and daughter and rooted in a maternal lineage.

Masduraud’s installation turns the public fountain inside out, bringing the intensity of bodily experience into the open and setting that experience in its social context. Yet it also provides a focal point within the park for people to gather around.

Lou Masduraud (F, b. 1990*) lives and works in Switzerland.