Penelope's Waiting

Penelope and BLNK / The between-image

“The Expectation of Penelope” (The Tent of Penelope) is a poetic and collective plastic installation mixing sound texts and textile creations to evoke solitude, femininity, abandonment, precariousness… and attempts to create links. Weaving on a craft is replaced by knitted weaving, which is more nomadic.

The expectation of Penelope was first a theatrical text: the Return of Ulysses, written by Lena h. Coms in 2010.

Then, L'attente de Pénélope became a plastic installation presented for the first time at the Trianon gallery in 2019 during the collective exhibition Mythologies contemporaines with the collective BLNK and L'entre-image curated by artist Baptiste Vanweydeveldt.

shawls, mittens handmade by Lena h. Coms, help with the scenography: Baptiste Vanweydeveldt, sound device: speaker with speaker or headset and mp3.

The scenography is evolving and the works are mixed with the works of other artists (the sublime tattooed seaweed of Hikari Elle or the delicate ceramics of Lydia Steciuk).

Another presentation of L'attente de Pénélope took place (without the tent) during the exhibition 100 Contacts organized by the collective BLNK (and still under the curatorship of Baptiste Vanweydeveldt) at the Centrifugeuz (Caen) in 2021 .

Penelope's Waiting (The Tent of Penelope)

Penelope's Waiting (The Tent of Penelope) is a poetic, collective installation combining spoken texts and handcrafted textiles to evoke solitude, femininity, abandonment, precarity, and the fragile attempts to create human connection. Here, the traditional loom is replaced by knitted weaving — a more nomadic and intimate form of textile making.

Originally, Penelope's Waiting was a theatre text: The Return of Ulysses, written by Léna h. Coms in 2010.

The project later evolved into a visual art installation, first presented at the Trianon Gallery in 2019 as part of the group exhibition Contemporary Mythologies, organized by the BLNK collective and L'Entre-Image, curated by the artist Baptiste Vanweydeveldt.

Hand-knitted shawls and mittens by Léna h. Coms. Scenographic collaboration: Baptiste Vanweydeveldt. Sound installation: loudspeaker or headphones with MP3 playback.

The scenography is conceived as an evolving environment in which the installation intertwines with the works of fellow artists, including Hikari Elle's tattooed seaweed pieces and Lydia Steciuk's delicate ceramics.

A second presentation of Penelope's Waiting took place in 2021 during the exhibition 100 Contacts at La Centrifugeuz (Caen), organized by the BLNK collective and again curated by Baptiste Vanweydeveldt. This version was presented without the tent itself.

For this iteration, the scenography became darker. A painting of Eve — depicted with her body torn open — mingles with balls of yarn and the surviving shawls, suggesting the aftermath of a fire. Within the space, The Cloak of Ulysses' Journey, created by Baptiste Vanweydeveldt, enters into dialogue with Penelope's installation for a second time, extending the conversation between the two mythic figures.

Downland

Penelope's Waiting, audio text like an answering machine, text, voice, music and editing: Léna h. Coms, (45 minutes), 2019.

Pénélope and BLNK / L'entre-image red knitted shawl

photo credit: BLNK/L'entre-image and Léna h. Coms

Penelope and Bivouac
(Reality Arts / Prébocage-Intercom)
+
Penelope's album
(The Arts Lab)

Penelope's Waiting (The Tent of Penelope)

Penelope's Waiting (The Tent of Penelope) is a poetic, collective installation combining spoken texts and handcrafted textiles to evoke solitude, femininity, abandonment, precarity, and the fragile attempts to create human connection. Here, the traditional loom is replaced by knitted weaving — a more nomadic and intimate form of textile making.

Originally, Penelope's Waiting was a theatre text: The Return of Ulysses, written by Léna h. Coms in 2010.

The project later evolved into a visual art installation, first presented at the Trianon Gallery in 2019 as part of the group exhibition Contemporary Mythologies, organized by the BLNK collective and L'Entre-Image, curated by the artist Baptiste Vanweydeveldt.

Hand-knitted shawls and mittens by Léna h. Coms. Scenographic collaboration: Baptiste Vanweydeveldt. Sound installation: loudspeaker or headphones with MP3 playback.

The scenography is conceived as an evolving environment in which the installation intertwines with the works of fellow artists, including Hikari Elle's tattooed seaweed pieces and Lydia Steciuk's delicate ceramics.

A second presentation of Penelope's Waiting took place in 2021 during the exhibition 100 Contacts at La Centrifugeuz (Caen), organized by the BLNK collective and again curated by Baptiste Vanweydeveldt. This version was presented without the tent itself.

For this iteration, the scenography became darker. A painting of Eve — depicted with her body torn open — mingles with balls of yarn and the surviving shawls, suggesting the aftermath of a fire. Within the space, The Cloak of Ulysses' Journey, created by Baptiste Vanweydeveldt, enters into dialogue with Penelope's installation for a second time, extending the conversation between the two mythic figures.

Penelope's Wait (52 minutes)is a plastic, poetic and collective installation exploring myths, loneliness, the feminine and abandonment.

Album produced by Riz'Ω for the plastic installationPenelope's Waitingbased on excerpts fromReturn of Odysseusby Lena h. Comments

selection of excerpts: Léo Lamour, Riz'ohm, Léna h. Comments

with the voices and sounds of:

Elodie Goudé, Malika Labrume; Goulc'han Lemoine;

Clara Leteinturier; Lise Lagnel Lefevre;

Mathilde Le Quang Soulie; Naig Thome

Technical: Hugues Mignotte, Yann Snuss (the Burning Bruissons), Philippe Germaine

Scenography: Léna h. Comments

Textile creations: Julie de Pierrepont, Léna h. Comments

Cover design: Léna h. Comments

Administration: Marine Pinabel

embroidery by Léna h. Coms of the QR code for Penelope's album. The pixelated crosses evoke the seas and the islands of Ulysses.

Penelope's yurt:
from Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer toSAY DIFFERENTLY(to the letter)

The tent evolves and becomes a yurt, and more precisely, a bamboo flex-yurt. This yurt was made during a residency open to the public atCent79in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer in July 2022 with the encrage collective and the artist Hélène Jouie. It must then be presented at the exhibition To the letterwith the collectiveSAY DIFFERENTLYin October 2022.

The yurt is presented both outdoors, on the sand, and indoors in an art space or a church (the Church of the old Saint-Sauveur in Caen). Thus, all spectators become potential Ulysses, or pretenders.

The space is bigger and more adaptable, the structure is adorned with shawls, mittens and old clothes. A loudspeaker discreetly placed under a shawl broadcasts Penelope's album continuously.

Pénélope's yourt : to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer to Dire AutRemenT (à la lettre)

photo credit: Hikari Elle and Léna h. Comments

Erdinç Y. (caenstreetphotography) and the artists of the exhibition A la lettre/dire AutRemenT

Penelope's yurt settles on the beaches of Saint-Aubin-sur-mer (2022)

Penelope is waiting for Odysseus (2022)

The residence atCent79in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer in July 2022 was also the pretext for taking sea plans for a concept adapted to social networks (Instagram and Tik Tok) broadcast daily for one minute a day (and is translated in addition to fourteen languages in the comments on Instagram):Penelope_attends_2022.

The Return of Odysseus, read by Léna h. Coms, and juxtaposed with shots of the seaside, in the place where Penelope could await the return of Ulysses.

Ulysses' answering machines - Penelope’s phones

Spectators are invited to pick up the phones: one hears the voice mail of Ulysses then the many messages of Penelope or the sound of the sea.

Spectators can also participate in the work by crocheting the yarns made available.

répondeur 1Léna h. Coms

00:00 / 05:13

repondeur 3 Léna h. Coms

00:00 / 06:31

répondeur 5 -touches merLéna h. Coms

00:00 / 01:42

répondeur 2Léna h. Coms

00:00 / 05:20

répondeur 4 -touchesLéna h. Coms

00:00 / 03:34

répondeur 6 -touchesLéna h. Coms

00:00 / 03:46

répondeur 7 - touchesLéna h. Coms

00:00 / 04:35

Ulysses’ Answering Machines and Penelope’s Phones,

plastic installation, old and quite new phones, Mp3, textils (wools et crochets), furnitures, stools, variables dimensions, 2023

voices : Léna h. Coms and Jan Sekowski

Traversée 3 - Penelope's nets (Nottingham)

A third residency took place in Nottingham (UK) in November 2023.

Nottingham has a rich historical connection to machine-made lace, inspired by traditional bobbin lace. For this residency, which focused on ecology and minimalist art, I chose to develop a performative practice centred on arm knitting, evoking fishing nets, while working with knitted lace patterns.

Like Penelope (see the page dedicated to Traversée 2), I made and unmade my work.

The first series, in green, evokes vegetation, while the second evokes the sea.

The stretched knitted mesh evokes lace as much as a fishing net — in which Penelope might perhaps hope to catch suitors, suitors-to-be, and Odysseus? — as well as a spider’s web gradually taking over the space and the works of the other artists.