‘From his observation of the world, whether in Paris or Shanghai, Chen Zhen employs objects recycled from rubbish to lend meaning to lived experience. He reflects on what is culturally at stake, and manages to give it visible form in images that everyone may comprehend. The experiences are not trivial; they are primordial and have immense repercussions’ --- Claude Gosselin. In ‘Daily Incantations’, an exhibition held in the Centre International d’art contemporain de Montreal, Chen Zhen describes the cycle of usual objects. At the center of the installation is a ball composed of metal wire and electrical cord which holds old television sets, outdated radios, amplifiers, speakers and other electronic equipments. All of them have lost their natural surroundings and entered the sphere of art; they have lost their original function in order to assume a new one, on which leads us to reflect on the modern living. A detailed chronology (in French) of the artist is included.