LÉtat du Ciel

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 Ghosts Stories] 14 feb – 07 sept Georges Didi-Huberman et Arno Gisinger Mo’Swallow 14 feb – 12 may David Douard Terre de départ [Land of departure] 14 feb – 12 may Angelika Markul (Laureate du Prix SAM pour l’art contemporain 2012 Des choses en moins, des choses en plus [Something Less, Something More] 14 feb – 02 march Coproduction Centre national des arts plastiques * Family Business From 13 feb

Part 2

Aujourd'hui le monde est mort [Lost Human Genetic Archive] 25 apr-07 sept Hiroshi Sugimoto Flamme éternelle 25 apr-07 sept Thomas Hirschhorn * Les Modules Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent 25 apr-23 jun Vivien Roubaud, Thomas Teurlai, Tatiana Wolska En collaboration avec la Villa Arson

Part 3

Ed Atkins 06 Jun – 07 Sept All that falls 06 Jun – 07 Sept Curators: Marie de Brugerolle & Gérard Wajcman Michaela Eichwald 11 Jul– 07 Sept (LAURÉATE DU PRIX LAFAYETTE 2012) Les Modules Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent 11 Jul – 07 Sept Alessandro Piangiamore