CE N'EST PAS DU SAVON

 

Olfactory object, 2024

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The work consists of a retro-style metal soap dish with a bar of soap attached to a wall. On the surface of the soap dish is an inscription: ce n'est pas du savon ('this is not soap'). A paper label with explanatory text is placed beside it.

 

The accompanying text reads:

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'In October 2006, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance completed an official investigation that confirmed that during World War II, German professor Rudolf Spanner at the Anatomical Institute near Gdańsk used fat from human cadavers to make soap.'​

 

In ce n'est pas du savon, I explore the boundaries between perception, expectation, and material reality. At first glance, the object appears to be an ordinary bar of soap, but its inscription and context challenge the viewer's assumptions. By presenting something familiar yet fundamentally altered, I invite the audience to question what they see, touch, and anticipate in everyday materials.

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The historical reference to Rudolf Spanner's use of human remains adds a profound conceptual layer: it confronts viewers with the tension between the mundane and the morally charged, demonstrating how objects can carry hidden and unsettling legacies. Today, creating such an object would be unimaginable under contemporary ethical standards.

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Drawing on the philosophical premise of René Magritte's Ceci n'est pas une pipe ('This is not a pipe'), the installation emphasises that representation is never reality. What we see is never fully what it is; perception is shaped by context, cultural knowledge, and sensory expectation. Through this interplay of perception, historical memory, and ethical reflection, I position myself as both creator and provocateur. Ce n'est pas du savon destabilises assumptions, transforming a seemingly ordinary object into a site for contemplating the boundaries between appearance and essence, and the moral and historical weight that objects can bear.

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This project was awarded a mobility grant from Culture Moves Europe (2025-2026), supported by the European Union and the Goethe-Institut. 

This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.

 

Publications about project:

2024 "Tales of Xenophobia", The Torah and Art Foundation & Sarah Vinitz Foundation, Paris, France