Painting (Painting)

En Guard Souvenir is composed of a group of eleven elements (ten paintings on paper and a sculpture) which deconstructs and recomposes the context of Tienanmen Square in Beijing. This square is known for numerous political events : the cultural revolution between 1966 and 1976, the arrest of the Gang of Four and protests in 1989 where thousands of demonstrators who were protesting against the corruption of the regime were killed. In this work, Bruno Pacheco alludes to the historical importance of this place, the choice of viewpoints reveals very precise but sporadic details there : part of the mausoleum devoted to Mao, a portrait of him and its frame, a view overlooking the Forbidden City, etc.

Mr. Black, Mr. Navy, Mr. Stripes is a photographic series of opera gloves made of men’s tailored trousers that were presented in 2017 in “La Plage” in Paris, a shop window turned into an experimental art space. The personification of the objects named after characters intended to compose a fiction from the display. The project follows Zhu’s thinking on the definition of “queer”: how to express a state?

Photography (Photography)

The half-length portrait of Joe Shirley presents a man with a great presence, wearing several items that point to ancestral Native American culture. In this photograph, which is relatively poor in information, the projection screen in the background acts as a clue about the event: Bruno Serralongue went to the second phase of the ‘Sommet Mondial sur la Société de l’Information’ (or SMSI, World Summit on Information Society, in Tunis in November 2005). This portrait echoes another picture in the same series (Native Peoples Claim Their Right to Participate in the Information Society) in which Joe Shirley is just a silhouette amongst the speakers, whereas here he occupies the entire frame.

Installation (Installation)

Aqua by Fernando Palma Rodríguez is an installation formed by four gourds and one movement detector that activates them. Once put in motion, the gourds open and close hinged hands that are cut from their bodies, catalyzing a sophisticated, choreographed conversation among them. Following Indigenous notions of personhood, Palma Rodríguez grants agency to ordinary objects and therefore the ability to relate to others—humans as well as non-humans.

Photography (Photography)

Kastura (2012) is an installation consisting of 24 black-and-white photographs of the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto bequeathed by Kimura’s grandfather; free-standing structures on which they are hung; and ornamental plants. The photographs appear to have been taken in late 1950s soon after tours of the villa were first offered to the public. Then, as today, visitors were led by a guide and could only follow a designated route.

Drawing & Print (Drawing & Print)

L’herbier (petit Trianon) consists of four “realistic” drawings of plants, screenprinted on transparent PVC. Relying on drawing as a study, this work resembles many sketchbook drawings of the artist, but also alludes to the series titled “Magnolia”. “The subject is a kind of cultural minimum (the plant) and the herbarium tends to this minimum,” Calais suggests.