[THE STATE OF THE SKY] [PART 1] -

L’État du ciel is a homage to many artists’, poets’ and philosophers’ reflections on the physical, moral and political factors that shape our world. Over the course of a season, it will present over ten proposals or exhibitions centering on that theme, as artists adopt André Breton’s definition of their role, as applied to Giorgio de Chirico: “The artist, that sentinel on the endless road, always on the lookout.” As far back as Goya, if not further, modern and contemporary artists have attentively examined contemporary reality. They often depict the landscape of our anxieties – dread, alarm, revolt, utopia – and suggest poetic ways of transforming the present. If we study the world as one might scrutinize an image, today stops being an imposed destiny and becomes a changing surface that we could, perhaps, transform.

New exhibition formats stem from these observations, innovative to the extent that the word “exhibition” may no longer apply. Thus, we will see Georges Didi-Huberman transpose the theme of lamentation into the language of film, inspired by Aby Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas; Gérard Wacjman and Marie de Brugerolle reflect on the theme of the fall, from the Berlin Wall to the Twin Towers; and Thomas Hirschhorn, with his immense installation Flamme éternelle, which involves nearly 200 intellectuals and poets in a debate focusing on the interconnections between art and philosophy and the ways in which these affect our consciousness.

Add to that ten fictions conceived by Hiroshi Sugimoto on the theme of humanity‘s disappearance, Angelika Markul’s scrupulous exploration of the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, David Douard’s viral hybrids of bodies and machines, and Ed Atkins’ digital variations. Each represents a symptom of the world’s general state, focusing on both contemplation and action. L’État du ciel – a title borrowed from Victor Hugo’s Promontoire du songe, in which the author wrote that “the sky’s normal state is at night” – addresses the current time, a political time in which seeing is already a means of action.

PART 1

Nouvelles histoires de fantômes [New Stories of Ghosts]
Georges Didi-Huberman et Arno Gisinger
14 February – 07 September 2014
In collaboration with avec Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains

Angelika Markul, Terre de départ [Land of departure]
WINNER OF THE SAM ART PROJECTS PRIZE 2012
14 February – 12 May 2014
Curated by Daria de Beauvais

David Douard, Mo’swallow
14 February – 12 May 2014
Curated by Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel

Des Choses en moins, des choses en plus
[Something Less, Something More]
14 February – 02 March 2014
Coproduced by the Centre national des arts plastiques
Curated by Agnès Violeau et Sébastien Faucon

PART 2

Les Modules, Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent
Vivien Roubaud, Thomas Teurlai, Tatiana Wolska
25 April – 23 June 2014
In collaboration with la Villa Arson
Curated by Eric Mangion et Daria de Beauvais

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Aujourd'hui, le monde est mort [Lost Human Genetic Archive]
[The world died today]
25 April – 07 September 2014
Curated by Akiko Miki

Thomas Hirschhorn, Flamme éternelle [Eternal Flame]
25 April – 23 June 2014
Curated by Julien Fronsacq

PART 3

Ed Atkins
6 June – 07 September 2014
Curated by Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel

All that falls
6 June – 07 September 2014
Curated by Marie de Brugerolle & Gérard Wacjman

PART 4

Michaela Eichwald
WINNER OF THE LAFAYETTE PRIZE 2012
11 July – 07 September 2014
Curated by Katell Jaffrès

Les Modules, Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent
11 July – 07 September 2014