French Pavilion, 58th Venice Biennale

For the French Pavilion, entitled Deep See Blue Surrounding / Vois Ce Bleu Profond Te Fondre, Laure Prouvost has invited Diogo Passarinho Studio to design and developed together its liquid spatial installation. Prouvostʼs artistic gesture was to create an immersive environment composed of a film installation, objects, sculptures, a tapestry and performances generating impressions that are psychological as well as physical, and therefore provide the basis for the visitors experience. 

The exhibition takes the form of an invitation to melt into a liquid and tentacular universe amongst the different unveiled and shared realities, which intermingle here. The cornerstone of the project is a fictional film. It takes the form of an initiatory journey, a joyous saga filmed over the course of a road trip through France — from the Parisian suburbs to the north of France, from the Palais du Facteur Cheval to the Mediterranean Sea — and finally to Venice. A sculptural installation in situ enriches and develops the themes of the film, inside and outside the pavilion, using typical processes of the artistʼs practise, such as leftover objects from the film, resin, clay, glass, plants or water vapour. Performances punctuate the life of the pavilion, interacting with the architecture and objects on display. 

The very context of Venice, a floating city built on water and by water, a city of facade and backstage, appears as a source of inspiration for the concept of this project.

2019

French Pavillion at the 58th Venice Biennale, Italy

Curated by Martha Kirszenbaum

Artworks by Laure Prouvost

Exhibition Architecture designed and developed with Diogo Passarinho Studio

Team: Diogo Passarinho and Juliana Knoblich

Photography: Luca Girardini

Sponsor: With the support of CHANEL Fund for Women in the Arts and Culture

Partners: ARTER, La Fondation des Artistes les Abattoirs, Musée – Frac Occitanie Toulouse, LaM – Lille Métropole Musée d’art moderne, d’art contemporain et d’art brut, Dunes Productions, Cité internationale des arts,Galerie Nathalie Obadia, carlier | gebauer, Lisson Gallery

The French Pavilion at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia is produced by Institut français, in close collaboration with The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture

Exhibition Dates: May 11 - November 25, 2019