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dérèglement des sens




30th May - 3rd June 2025

Purist Gallery, King’s Cross Road, London

Curated by Huiyu Lan

Artists: Ben Grosse-Johannboecke, Sang-hyuk Kim, Yidan Kim, Ya Luo, Qi Ben


dereglement des sens (derangement of senses) is a concept introduced by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud in a letter to Paul Demeny dated 10 June 1871. In this letter, known as the Lettre du voyant, Rimbaud sets out his vision of the poet's role, asserting that poets can only achieve the state of a "seer" through a deliberate process of sensory derangement. 







"Le poete se fait voyant par un long, immense et raisonne dereglement de taus les sens." 
To become a seer, the poet must undergo a long, immense, and intentional derangement of all the senses.







The purpose of this sensory derangement is to express dissatisfaction with social discipline. The question of 'How to escape disciplinary power?' demands persistent engagement. 



















Derangement of senses is a mood that tears into the extreme, describing the imbalance between inner-outer emotional feelings.One example of this derangement can be seen in the term "voyant" itself-a key term in Rimbaud's poetic theory-which refers to a state that transcends rationality, linearity, and the real, leaning instead toward the irrational, nonlinear, and surreal. Rimbaud's verses are rich with expressions of symbolism and suggestion. "Emotional generation" takes the place of "logical construction." In this context, the power of an artwork lies in its ability to evoke a non-verbal experience-an immersion, a loss of control, and a renewed perception rarely encountered in contemporary life.






Rimbaud's verses are rich with expressions of symbolism and suggestion. "Emotional generation" takes the place of "logical construction." In this context, the power of an artwork lies in its ability to evoke a non-verbal experience-an immersion, a loss of control, and a renewed perception rarely encountered in contemporary life. 

Derangement of senses is a mood that tears into the extreme, describing the imbalance between inner-outer emotional feelings. More recently, Madsen, in his essay "MOOD OVER CONTENT," introduced the concept of "mood", describing a shift in contemporary art-a return to a kind of artistic essence.

Contemporary art, particularly that of millennial artists, is gradually shedding the constraints of self-consciousness and the avant-garde, moving instead towards a mode of pure expression grounded in sincerity and spirituality.