Laure Prouvost, Palais de Tokyo

For her first solo show in a Parisian institution, Laure Prouvost is presenting both a geographical and mental escapade. By transforming the site, using an original scenography conceived in collaboration with Diogo Passarinho, the overall design of which suggests as much a large open eye as a breast, she has conceived at the same time various nooks and crannies, testing out the visitors’curiosity and inviting them to step inside. By multiplying viewpoints with both generosity and humour, “Ring, Sing and Drink for Trespassing” is an ode to diagonal lines and the transcending of limits, to the joy of slipping over a fence to discover a wasteland, or a now-abandoned but marvellous garden, in which the artist could well have set up her studio. 

Disregarding usual forms of access, a curbed corridor is an invitation to penetrating this space. Initially papered, this corridor then changes into a metallic network, interwoven with assorted connections and elements: so it is that there is a shift from manufactured objects to the traces of forests – the first sign that nature is taking over again, but also that the outside world has lodged itself in the interstices of this place. The artist thus moves outside her dedicated zone so as to spread strange messages elsewhere in Palais de Tokyo: “Ideally this plant would grow boobs and produce milk, ideally here the floor would open to some wild dry grass”At the heart of the exhibition, a fountain – symbolising femininity and energy while also evoking a mother’s breast – creates a zone of freshness and lightness. 

The architecture forms a circle, as a place for encounters where the visitors can take a break after discovering the atypical panoramas conceived by the artist. Inspired from global warming and the resulting aberrations in nature, Laure Prouvost is offering her version of a “Chernobyl garden of Eden”.“Ring, Sing and Drink for Trespassing” invites us to explore and celebrate ambiguity, by presenting works (unseen before the most part) full of disturbing elements, constantly forcing us to reconsider our viewpoints and understanding of things.  So it is that entering her show, by pushing open a door which is ajar, or crossing a corridor, takes us through the looking glass.

2018

Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR

Curated by Daria de Beauvais

Artworks by Laure Prouvost 

Exhibition Architecture by Diogo Passarinho Studio

Project Leader: Diogo Passarinho

Photography by Aurélien Mole, Exhibition views of Laure Prouvost, “Ring, Sing and Drink for Trespassing”, Palais de Tokyo

Courtesy of the artist and Nathalie Obadia (Paris / Brussels), carlier | gebauer (Berlin), Lisson Gallery (London / New York)

Exhibition dates: June 22 – Septembre 9, 2018