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The Musée départemental d'art contemporain de Rochechouart opens this spring with an exhibition by Argentinian artist Eduardo T. Basualdo (b. 1977), his first major show in a museum. A dark streak of surrealism runs through many of the artist's mysterious works that are steeped in theatre, literary and psychoanalysis roots. Recurring themes such as ambiguity of natural forms and the impact of physical forces often coalesce as they did in The Silence of The Sirens (Le Silence des sirènes), a full-sized ebbing and flowing aquatic scene which caused a stir at the 11th Lyon Biennale in 2011.

The exhibition at Rochechouart Castle includes over twenty pieces-ranging from monumental installations and kinetic or light-based works of art to sculptures and drawings. Some, such as Los Fantasmas, are shown for the ... first time and all have been chosen or created by the artist specifically for the museum's gallery spaces. Under the general title of Nervio, the works probe limits, testing the breaking point of rope, focusing on tensions inherent to certain locations or pushing the boundaries of conscience. Visitors are confronted with the physical presence of a gigantic black rock, are allowed to enter and leave a cell, or are put in front of objects-a glass of water, a knife, a candle, and mock-natural elements-which move of their own accord. Eduardo Basualdo bases his approach on the Earth's universal and natural cycle, which he appropriates in order to give it its own, autonomous force, over which human beings do not seem to have sway.

Experiencing the exhibition is a voyage into the unexpected and also an open invitation to question the limits of art. Eduardo Basualdo extracts poetry and strangeness from the fragility of technological processes, thus creating parallels between physical reality and psychological states of mind. It seems most appropriate that his work on gravitation and rocks should be shown at Rochechouart, on the very spot where a giant meteorite fell from the sky two hundred million years ago.