"You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for God knows that, in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil."

Video produced as part of the “La première image” (The First Image) order by the Cnap with the G.R.E.C (Groupe de recherches et d'essais cinématographiques Film essays and research group)

Video, black and white, sound, Duration: 9'27'', French sub-titling

Photo credit: Cnap

The shadows of the Napoleon army fall on the walls of a mysterious cave named after Marie Jeanne, a combatant in the Haitian revolution, the rebellion of which is told by a local myth. The battle that took place in the cave became the most successful slave rebellion in History.

Video, black and white, sound, Duration: 11’11’’

Le Fresnoy Studio national des arts contemporains, Port-a-Pimente (Haiti)

Animation Assistant: Alexandru P. Badelita

On the Italian and French coasts, people pull ropes, attaching them to the territory. It is symbolic of our connection with the ground on which we grew up and which sketches our future.

Video, colour and black and white, silent, Duration: 8'

Super 8 and 16mm film transfer

Photo credit: Galerie Escougnou-Cetraro

Giving something to see from what is missing: that is probably the obsessional search in Marguerite Duras’ films. Like her stories and novels, they explore absence (absence of the another, the absence of meaning). If Marguerite Duras has brought some of her stories to the screen, this film from 1979 does not originate from any independent text. The story inserts itself under the images, or beyond them; they never accompany them.

Video, black and white, sound, Duration: 48 minutes

Collection 49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine, Metz (FR)

As the name indicates, this video was filmed at the time day disappears. Filmed almost blind, the landscape seems covered by a heavy grain. Deer and hinds graze at the doors of a metropolis. These wild animals seem to lose their prestige here. Their bodies are peeled and they graze in a forest decor pierced by the city lights. The deer, dog and sometimes the wolf belong to the bestiary of melancholy.

Video, colour, sound, Duration: 5:48 min

Musician: Luc Kheradmand

FNAC 2017-0578 Centre national des arts plastiques Paris-La Défense (France)

Photo credit: Jousse Entreprise

The camera follows a pack of stray dogs that have taken up residence at Saqqara, site of the first Egyptian pyramid. The editing sets these images alongside those of archaeological digs that detail the gestures of workers on the pyramid restoration site, as well as those of women sorting plastic in the Cairo recycling centre.

Video, colour, sound, Duration: 13'06"

Filmed on the Saqqara site in Egypt

FNAC 09-583 Centre national des arts plastiques Paris-La Défense (France)

© Adagp, Paris / Cnap

Photo credit: Galerie Kamel Mennour

Há Terra! is a meeting, a hunt, a diachronic tale of viewing and the future. Like in a game, like in a high-speed chase, the film sways between character and earth, earth and character, predator and prey.

HD Video, colour, sound, 16 mm film transfer, Duration: 12'47"

Sertão Region (Brazil)

Production: Spectre Productions, Rennes (France) (Producer: Olivier Marboeuf, Associate Producer: Cédric Walter)

FNAC 2017-0524 Centre national des arts plastiques Paris-La Défense (France)

© rights reserved / Cnap

Photo credit: Ana Vaz

In the world of perceptions revealed by Edith Dekyndt, everything leads to believe that silence reigns supreme, conducive to moments of reflection. Whereas life offers hardly any silence, in One Second of Silence (Part 01, New-York) (2008), the transparent flag floats in the air leaving its surface to be confused with the surrounding sky as if it was the emblem, and gives to metaphorically hearing a “noisy silence”.

Collection 49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine, Metz (FR)

© E. Dekyndt

Photo credit: Liberty Adrien

The video “What we saw upon awakening” shows a dozen young men, dressed in black, who are trying to clear the scattered debris of a house in Kabul destroyed by the bombings, a ruin showing the armed conflicts that have been wearing down the region for dozens of years. Like some of her previous works, the choice of silence is the fruit of a conceptual strategy that is meant to allude to the implications of political decisions that affect those not allowed to speak, the homeless and other dispossessed.

Collection 49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine, Metz (FR) / Photo: Lida Abdul / © L. Abdul

“Vacuum” shows the artist vacuuming in the desert between Jericho and the Dead Sea, the absurdity of the gesture referring to the Greek mythology hero Sisyphus and refers to life in Palestine. 

Collection 49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine, Metz (FR) / Photo: Raeda Saadeh / © R. Saadeh

“What we saw upon awakening”

16 mm film transferred to DVD, colour, sound. Duration 6’53’’ / Collection 49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine, Metz (FR) / Photo: Lida Abdul / © L. Abdul

Salomé Lamas “A Torre”, 2015

Perhaps Kolja’s experience of merging her body (human) with a tree (nature) by venturing into an area between sky and earth is due to the pureness of her spirit, the grandeur of idiots or the madness of mystics; or all at the same time? Maybe it’s a symptom of the enlightened – or simply a sophisticated suicide?

Project made using elements of the film "Extinction" (2018) directed by Salomé Lamas and produced by O Som e a Furia, in co-production with Mengamuk Films.

Performance by Christoph Both-Asmus ("The Tree Walker") / HD video, black and white, sound. Duration: 8' / FNAC 2017-0387 Centre national des arts plastiques / © Salomé Lamas / Cnap

A look back in photos at the exhibition and work of the multi-talented artist, Catherine Meurisse: comic book illustrator, cartoonist and author. 

Comic book page no. 4 published by éditions Dargaud, 2018.

Coloured by Isabelle Merlet.

In Les Grands espaces (Wide Open Spaces), Catherine Meurisse represents children more than anything. She transcribes her memories through her little girl character.

Comic book page no. 4 published by éditions Dargaud, 2018.

Coloured by Isabelle Merlet. 

Perched on her haystack, little Catherine wants to embrace the big wide world. Her line has become softer Since La Légèreté (Lightness).

Comic book page no. 4 published by éditions Dargaud, 2018.

Coloured by Isabelle Merlet.

The influence of classic painting can be seen in her drawing – in the cows, field, haybales.

Comic book page no. 29 published by éditions Dargaud, 2018.

Coloured by Isabelle Merlet.

Comic book page no. 67 published by éditions Dargaud, 2016.

Quill, Indian ink and coloured ink.

Colour burst through by fits and starts in La Légèreté (Lightness), as in the branches of this tree, directly drawn with coloured ink.

Original drawing, pages 86 and 87, published by éditions Dargaud, 2019.

Gouache, coloured ink.

This reinterpretation of The death of Sardanapalus show the renewed spirit and energy Catherine Meurisse puts into exploring colours and using the matter. New ways of working.

 Original page published in Scènes de la vie hormonale (scenes of hormonal life) by éditions Dargaud, page 32, 2016.

Quill, Indian ink.

Ma tata Thérèse (My Aunt Theresa), text by Fabrice Nicolino, illustrations by Catherine Meurisse, Éditions Sarbacane, 2012.

Diogène, text by Diogène Mantinée and Diotima Mantinée, illustrations by Catherine Meurisse, Les Portes du monde, 2003. 

One year represents the journey of the Earth around the sun, one month the cycle of the moon, and one day the result of the Earth’s cycle of rotation. On the other hand, a week is a measure of time established with no connection to astronomy. 

The week is an artificial system designed only for the well-being of the human lifecycle. For each day of the week, the artist Camille Henrot examines the standardised and repeated forms of human behaviour in society, using the areas of cultural anthropology, religion, social media and psychoanalytical theory as references. 

This exhibition is concentrated on the works relating to “Saturday” and “Tuesday”, which are presented alongside the series of the artist’s watercolours.

Filmed in New York, Washington DC, Tahiti and Tonga, her video Saturday (2017) focuses on the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. She was attracted by the Church because its worshippers observe the Sabbath and organise baptisms on Saturdays, and because its teachings underline the importance of good health and dietary habits. 

The artist filmed the services of Seventh-Day Adventists and recordings of their televised prayer programme. She combined these images with scenes of neurological tests, a food advertisement, an injection of Botox, big wave surfing, an endoscopy and political demonstrations. 

This amalgam of images reveals connections between the different human strategies to maintain hope in the medical, religious and political dimensions.

The origins of the word “Tuesday” comes from Tyr, the Nordic god of war and victory.

Tuesday (2017) is a work that combines video and sculpture that refers to both ancient mythology and the contemporary motivational message phenomenon, as the hashtag “#transformationtuesday”, shows for example. 

The film Tuesday mixes images of racehorses that race, breath and are groomed, with others, showing those who do Jiu jitsu in slow motion while training on mats before a match.

Tuesday subverts competition and replaces it with passive contemplation and an exaggerated suspension of movement and action. 

At the same time as the video, two sculptures represent the body in an entangled form.

They blur the frontiers between acts of surrender and control.

2012. 25'. Single channel video. From The Speeches Series (3 digital films, 2012-2013). Commissioned for La Triennale, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2012, curated by Okwui Enwezor.

Courtesy of the artist and Mor Charpentier Gallery, Paris
 

Twenty-Two Hours. Digital film. 2018. 43'. Commissioned for Ruhr Triennale, 2018. Produced with the support of Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and Harvard Film Study Center,Secession Vienna.

Courtesy of the artist and Mor Charpentier Gallery, Paris
 

Twenty-Two Hours. Digital film. 2018. 43'. Commissioned for Ruhr Triennale, 2018. Produced with the support of Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and Harvard Film Study Center,Secession Vienna.

Courtesy of the artist and Mor Charpentier Gallery, Paris

Commandé pour Ruhr Triennale, 2018. Produit avec l’aide du Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study et du Harvard Film Study Center, Sécession viennoise.

Avec l’autorisation de l’artiste et de la galerie Mor Charpentier, Paris

Location of Kateb Yacine’s house.
Fig. 1 : Théâtre de verdure
From Foreign Office, mixed media installation. 2015. C-Print. 100x120cm.

Courtesy of the artist and Mor Charpentier Gallery, Paris

Residence of the Black Panther Party delegation during the 1969 Pan-African Festival of Algiers.
Fig. 1 : Entrance of the former Casino
From Foreign Office, mixed media installation. 2015. C-Print. 100x120cm.

Courtesy of the artist and Mor Charpentier Gallery, Paris
 

From Foreign Office, mixed media installation. 2015. C-Print. 80x100cm.

Courtesy of the artist and Mor Charpentier Gallery, Paris

Digital film. 2015. 22'. From Foreign Office, mixed-media project, film, photography, silkscreen printing.
Commissioned for Sam Art Prize, 2013-2014
 

Courtesy of the artist and Mor Charpentier Gallery, Paris
 

Film 16 mm. B&W. Muet. 2019. 3 min 30.

Courtesy of the artist and Mor Charpentier Gallery, Paris

Born in 1974, Latifa Echakhch practises painting, sculpture, video and installation. She draws inspiration from her memories, the political events that marked her, literature, music and poetry. While the romantic landscapes of her childhood had a profound impact on her aesthetics and awareness, her formal vocabulary has been influenced by minimalism and art history from the 1960s to the 1970s.

Having lived in Paris for several years, Latifa Echakhch now lives and works in Martigny in the Swiss Alps. Awarded the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Contemporary Art Prize in 2013 and the Zurich Art Prize in 2015, the artist has now gained international recognition. She is represented by the Kamel Mennour (Paris/London), Kaufmann Repetto (Milan/New York), Dvir (Tel Aviv/Brussels) and Metro Pictures (New York) galleries.

The title of the exhibition refers both to the sunset and to the artistic or theatrical set – the installation of a stage, the assembly of décor and objects defining a stage where action takes place. Latifa Echakhch has often used décor's potential for activation. The large painted curtains show landscapes at sunset, each linked to a personal story lived by the artist.

Here Latifa Echakhch covers picture rails with blue carbon leaves. The artist combines a reference to the Klein blue and ultramarine blue of romantic landscapes with the carbon blue of political leaflets. The title refers to Yasser Arafat’s words in the late 1960s to describe the sequence of global political and social demands.

The surface of this mural depicting a crowd of protesters carrying banners is heavily chipped – as if the buildings themselves are crumbling. In the context of anera marked by political, economic and environmental turbulence, the work suggests the loss of illusions and insecurity and instability, as well as the collapse of visions common to the whole of humanity.

This installation, composed of black bowler hats placed upside down and filled with black ink, refers to Magritte, Chaplin and the TV series Chapeau melon et bottes de cuir (Bowler Hat and Leather Boots). The work more broadly symbolises the figure of the poet and the creator, whose inks are ready to pour onto the floor to reveal shapes and words.

One of the key figures who defining Latifa Echakhch’s work, both implicitly and explicitly, is the ghost. In many of her works the artist is conspicuous by her absence. She always presents the remnants of an action that has taken place, which she provoked and executed herself, but that she has never put centre stage. The artist systematically obscures the presence of bodies in favour of the traces they have left.

A small theatre is prepared to take in rainwater from a gutter running along the roof of the BPS22 museum. Here Latifa Echakhch reproduces a habit attributed to her uncle Saïd, who has always fascinated her. Due to limited access to the water supply in Khouribga, Morocco, he used to place a teapot under the gutter of his house to fill it with water and then prepare his « special tea ».

Latifa Echakhch places items of costume and musical instruments on the floor, along with go-go dancer outfits. These costumes reveal the absence of the body, a concept that plays a major role in the artist’s work. Taken from their respective contexts, these objects are detached from their anecdotal content and their formal rigidity to preserve only the intensity of the allegorical statement.

Inadelso Cossa lives and works in Mozambique. Since 2006, he works as a film director, producer and cinematographer. The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder, his new documentary in development, has already received support different funds.

Synopsis : Concerned with the fragmented memories of my childhood during the civil war in Mozambique, I return to my grandmother’s village to reveal the untold stories, which still haunt my generation.

Iman Djionne is a Senegalese director who has written and directed short films and audiovisual content. Iman is currently working on her first feature film, Coura + Oulèye. She took part in the Realness Screenwriters’ Residency in 2019 and Berlinale Talents in 2020.

Synopsis : Born into a polygamous family, two young sisters get to know each other after the death of their father, on a journey across Senegal.

Francisco Bahia is a Brazilian filmmaker. Directed short and half length films that address issues of territory and identity selected and awarded at different Brazilian festivals. Babylon is his first feature film as director.

Synopsis : A Haitian immigrant needs to investigate the death of an old friend, and the only way to do it is to encounter voodoo forces, from which he had distanced himself out of fear.

Valeria Valentina Bolivar is a venezuelan director, screenwriter, producer and assistant director. In 2019, she took part in CineQuaNonLab, and with her first feature Without A Name she took part in Berlinale Talents.

Synopsis : Marcela is schizophrenic. She meets Joaquín, who has just emigrated from Venezuela where he left his son. They fall in love, and Marcela tries to overcome her condition to recover her son and have a family.

Olga Korotko is a Kazakh director who started as a student of an arthouse director D. Omirbayev, in collaboration with whom she later created films-research on cinema history. In 2016 she was selected for Berlinale Talents. Her first feature film, Bad Bad Winter, premiered at l’ACID in 2018.

A Pair of Leather Clogs is a family and political drama with elements of comedy, set up in Almaty.

Sompot Chidgasornpongse is a Thai director. He worked with Apichatpong Weerasethakul as assistant director on many films. His feature documentary, Railway Sleepers (2016), had its European premiere at the Berlinale. He is currently working on his second feature film, 9 Temples to Heaven.

Synopsis : A family of 9 takes their grandmother on a merit-making trip to 9 temples in 1 day, hoping to prolong her life, but their trip takes an unexpected turn.

Ash Mayfair was born in Vietnam and received her MFA in filmmaking at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her feature debut, The Third Wife (2018), premiered at Toronto International Film Festival and won the NETPAC Jury Award.

Skin of Youth is about what it means to look at the idea of identity, womanhood and family against the backdrop of late 1990s Vietnam, from the perspective of youths who don’t fit into the accepted social norms.

Sara Stijović was born in Montenegro, she is a senior in college studying Film and TV directing at FDA Cetinje. She is currently in the development phase of Gina, her first feature film.

Synopsis : Gina is the story of Gina Markuš – a young Montenegrin woman who was imprisoned during the 1950's in Yugoslavia and sent to the Naked Island (Goli Otok) to serve her sentence. A few years before committing suicide, she put everything on paper...

Khaled Mansour is an Egyptian director. He directed four short feature all of which participated in local and international film festivals. Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo is his first feature film.

Synopsis : A man can remain astray for a long time. But once he finds his destiny, he may have to pay for it with his life.

Born in 1985, Keywan Karimi is an Iranian filmmaker of Kurdish origin. Because of the themes of his short films, he received a prison sentence. Under house arrest, he was unable to attend the Critic’s Week Venice Film Festival for the premiere of his first feature film, Drum, in 2016. He is currently staying in France.

Do you know anything about Omid? is about the dark years of Iran in the 1980s, just after the revolution when many political prisoners were executed and murdered in prisons of the Islamic Republic.

“My project offers a metaphorical immersion into the stomach of a kind of an unknown tentacular animal, in order to find out who we are. I would like for each spectator to feel him/herself becoming a tentacle of the project.”

The fictional film of Laure Prouvost for the French Pavilion takes the form of an initiatory journey, a joyous saga filmed over the course of a roadtrip 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.

“The film is the central element around which the piece is structured. It is in a way the head of my octopus, which means that the installation is alive because of the film, but not solely.”

“My installation is a place of life in the depths of our subconscious.”

“I like to question what we present and represent, who we are and where we go to, both personally and on the scale of humanity. There is also the idea of melting and mixing into more or less strong visions, which have more to do with sensations.” 

“Idiomatic expressions, once translated, become very strong images, such as I will tell you loads of salads! Maybe there was a time when salads were told in the fields? I’m as much interested in knowing their context as deconstructing it.”

Using video, drawing, tapestry, ceramics, glass, photography, performance, and above all, language, Laure Prouvost creates immersive installations which plunge the viewer into a state of personal and collective introspection.

“I had the idea of the octopus as a metaphor for the origins of our planet and, as human beings, for the development of our nervous systems. Its tentacles are key because they are the sensory extension of it.”

“A trip to our unconscious. With the help of our brains in our tentacles, we dig tunnels to the past and the future. Let’s follow the light.”  

“My grandmother in Roubaix forced me to bring a tapestry she made to Venice!”