Imaginez l’Imaginaire
(Imagine the Imaginary)
September 28, 2012–February 11, 2013
Opening: Thursday September 27
Press Opening: 10–1pm
VIP Preview: 6pm
Public Opening: 8pm–midnight
Palais de Tokyo
13, avenue du Président Wilson
75 116 Paris
After the success of the Triennial, Intense Proximity which provided an opportunity to discover the poetic spaces of the new Palais de Tokyo, this second season allows us to make a new part of the institution’s remit visible.
The overriding theme of the whole season takes us as close as possible to the way artists think, to creation as it takes shape, following in the very wake of the invention of the artwork. Les Dérives de l’imaginaire [Letting the Imagination Drift] brings together artists from different generations round this theme (Dove Allouche, Richard Baquié, Matthew Buckingham, Guy Debord, Fernand Deligny, Trisha Donnelly, Rodney Graham, Rachel Harrison, William Hogarth, David Hominal, Douglas Huebler, William E. Jones, Joachim Koester, Oliver Laric, Mark Leckey, Aristide Maillol, John Miller, Seth Price, Stephen Prina, Evariste Richer, Jean-Michel Sanejouand, Pierre Vadi, Raphaël Zarka, Bandes lettristes / François Letaillieur), artists whose works demonstrate and sometimes describe the mental processes involved in their development.
But it is also the subject of the solo exhibition, Matières premières [Raw Materials], by Fabrice Hyber who presents both old works and four landscapes given over to the description of a world in which all the rules have been reinvented. Or indeed of the installation by Ryan Gander, a kind of imaginary mental library, an associative rebus presented to the viewers for them to solve in their wisdom.
Neïl Beloufa transforms his exhibition into a film set; Boris Groys stages the work of one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, Alexandre Kojève, on the basis of his travel photographs; Tjorg Douglas Beer creates a bar which artists are invited to keep on developing on an ongoing basis throughout the two months of the exhibition, and Damir Očko, a young Croat artist, will present his work for the first time in France, and will undoubtedly be one of the revelations of the autumn. Markus Schinwald explores the monumental architecture of the Palais de Tokyo to design a fascinating installation. And also: Ivan Argote, Bernard Aubertin, Jonathan Binet, Maxime Chanson, Mimosa Echard, John Giorno, Takahiro Iwasaki, Thierry Liegeois, Helen Marten, Eponine Momenceau, Henrik Potter, Jon Rafman, Olivier Saillard, Tilda Swinton, Asim Waqif.
The search for new principles, the attempts to go beyond the language of the exhibition are thus at the heart of the Palais de Tokyo’s programming. Oxygenating the ecosystem of art Institutions tend sometimes to go on reproducing the features typical of their identity indefinitely. To prevent this from happening, the Palais de Tokyo very regularly gives a voice to young curators or other more established ones to bring in new avenues and different artists, and constantly keep our minds open. This intention will be confirmed in June 2013 by the invitation issued by the Palais de Tokyo to around fifteen young international curators to take over the entire building.
Image above:
Markus Schinwald, Orient, 2011. HD video, 9′, loop, 2 projections. Edition 1/7 + 2 APs. Courtesy of the artist and galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris.
