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    ‘We Changed People’s Mentality’: What It Was Like on the Ground in Egypt as Officials Unveiled the Pyramids’ First-Ever Contemporary Art Show

    The pyramids of Egypt have survived for 4,500 years, despite the more recent waves of tourists and camel-entrepreneurs encircling these magnificent feats of architecture. Now, for a brief three-week period, contemporary art will also share space on the Giza Plateau with a ring of 10 site-specific art projects in the exhibition, “Forever is Now”, curated by Simon Watson and organized by Art D’Égypte.
    Art D’Égypte, founded in 2016 by the Alexandria-born French-Egyptian arts consultant Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, has a track record of inserting contemporary art into historic sites in Cairo and creating a dialogue between past and present. As Ghaffar explained just before the opening of the Giza exhibition: “Ancient Egypt and this civilization influenced the whole world and our message is a token of appreciation and a sign of hope.”
    It took three years of negotiations with UNESCO, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism and several embassies to achieve her dream of installing contemporary works near the pyramids at Giza, the country’s most famous archaeological site. “For [authorities], it’s a site of antiquities, it’s heritage, but contemporary art is not appealing to them,” Ghaffar said. “We changed people’s mentality and now they actually say that the art makes these ancient walls speak.”
    JR’s Greetings from Giza on opening day. Courtesy of the artist and Forever Is Now. Photo: MO4NETWORK.
    On Thursday, October 21, the public had its first opportunity to test out whether contemporary art enhanced or detracted from the last remaining Seventh Wonder of the Ancient World. Rather than merely block the view—an impossibility given that the Great Pyramid is over 475 feet tall—these art works transform seeing into an experiment in interactivity. JR nailed it with Greetings from Giza, a billboard of a hand that seems to be removing the top of the pyramid when viewed from the proper angle, and visitors lined up to take photographs of the comical sight.
    L.A. artist Gisela Colón (who recently participated in Frieze Sculpture in Regent’s Park) took a less ironic tack by placing Eternity Now (Parabolic Monolith Sirius Titanium—a 30-foot-long and 8-foot-high mound made of aerospace-grade carbon fiber—at the foot of the Sphinx. Resembling a rising sun, it reflected shades of gold as the light shifted over the course of a day. Colón, who grew up in Puerto Rico, worked with a Latinx-owned aerospace company to realize the sculpture, bringing a collaborative spirit to the project. “My team is over 150 people and all of us who took part in this are so proud. I get to contribute to a little part of 4,500 years of history and it is a conversation across time,” she said. “It’s about unifying the human race and how we are all globalized now, and artists can lead that conversation.”
    Gisela Colón, Eternity Now (2021). Courtesy of the artist and Forever Is Now. Photo: MO4NETWORK.
    The artist João Trevisan, a newcomer from Brazil, explored parallel colonialist histories with Body That Rises, a tower of wooden railroad ties, a possible crate for an imaginary obelisk, while Egyptian artist Sherin Guirguis invited visitors to push-pull the moving parts of her monument to feminism, Here Have I Returned.
    Ai-Da, an artificial intelligence art-making robot created by British artist Aidan Meller, was temporarily detained in customs for fear that she could be used for spying, but she eventually made it to the opening. Other participating artists included Alexander Ponomarev (Ukraine), Lorenzo Quinn (Italy), Moataz Nasr (Egypt), Shuster and Moseley (UK), Stephen Cox (UK), and Sultan bin Fahad (Saudi Arabia).
    Opening day at Forever Is Now.
    “Honestly, I had to go to bat for certain artists, I would not take no for an answer,” said Simon Watson, an art advisor and independent curator who had a gallery in Manhattan’s SoHo district in the 1980s and is now based in Brazil and New York.
    After visiting Egypt five years ago at the invitation of Cairo artist Ibrahim Ahmed, Watson was approached by Ghaffar about a year ago to help organize “Forever Is Now”, and he had to perform what he calls “a waltz between the artists and the bureaucrats.” He is thrilled with the results. The pyramids are massive and could have overshadowed the exhibition if not for Simon’s strong vision. “Now, the site is going to attract new audiences,” he said. “People will be asked to think about the themes there through a new lens.”
    Planned during the pandemic, there were many challenges to this show. In addition to the bureaucratic tangle involved with staging contemporary art at a UNESCO World Heritage site, there was the issue of raising funds for the project. Art D’Égypte was supported by a long list of partners including the local sponsors EgyptAir, Afridi Bank, the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, Abou Ghalib Motors and global shipping company DHL. Cooperation from the American, British and French embassies in Egypt was also essential, although it created additional hurdles around the selection of artists.
    Many of the artists also had to raise their own funds for the fabrication and installation of their monumental sculptures, with Watson’s assistance. “Every year, we start a project without a budget, without knowing how we are going to finish, but I believe in the universe and the ‘fairy dust’ that helps us every time,” Ghaffar said. One downside is that this enormous endeavor will end on November 7, too short a run at such an incredible site.
    Lorenzo Quinn, Together (2021). Courtesy of the artist and Forever Is Now. Photo: MO4NETWORK.
    Ghaffar is something of force of nature, accomplishing a great deal with an all-women team in a country where inequality is pervasive. Recently awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France’s highest honor recognizing a significant contribution to the arts and literature, she is determined to change not only Egypt’s perception of women but also build an appreciation for its own contemporary art.
    Part of Art D’Égypte’s mission and a sign of its success is its ability to bring contemporary artworks out into public spaces where tourists and pedestrians must see them. The company has previously worked with UNESCO on three previous projects: “Eternal Light: Something Old, Something New exhibition” at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in 2017, “Nothing Vanishes, Everything Transforms” at the Manial Palace and Museum in 2018, and “Reimagined Narratives” on Al-Muizz Street in historic Cairo in 2019.
    Opening just weeks before “Forever is Now”, Ghaffar also organized a series of temporary exhibitions in 12 empty shops and local cultural centers downtown to create the Cairo International Art District, funded mainly by Al-Ismaelia Real Estate Investment.
    The city already has a vibrant contemporary art scene and there are several Egyptian artists who have strong international careers such as Youssef Nabil, Ghada Amer and street artist Ganzeer. But there are many more who deserve recognition, like Moataz Nasr and Sherin Guirguis, both featured in “Forever is Now”. Standing nearby the Great Pyramid, Ghaffar said of her most recent effort to draw more attention to Egypt’s potential as an arts hub: “We are showing the transcendence between our history and contemporary art, which I view as a lens to our society today.”
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    For the First Contemporary Art Show at Egypt’s Pyramids, JR Transformed the Ancient Wonder Into a Partially Levitating Mass

    For the first time in its ​​4,500-year history, the Great Pyramid of Giza—renowned as one of the most significant creations of the ancient world—is hosting a contemporary art show. 
    “Forever Is Now” is the name of the exhibition, made up of large-scale artworks installed along a trail leading up to the world’s wonders. The highlight is a new steel-and-mesh sculpture by French artist JR: it depicts a giant hand holding a postcard of one of the pyramids that, when viewed from the right angle, creates the illusion that the top of the ancient structure has separated from and is levitating above its base.
    ​​Gisela Colón, Alexander Ponomarev, and Lorenzo Quinn are also among the 10 international artists participating in the show, which is open to the public from today through November 7, 2021. (The robot artist Ai-Da’s inclusion was nearly blocked by customs officials who feared she was a spy.)

    With support from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and UNESCO, “Forever Is Now” was organized by Art D’Égypte, a private firm that—per the company’s own description—aims to “preserve Egypt’s heritage and advance the international profile of modern and contemporary Egyptian art.” The exhibition marks the firm’s fourth annual installation at an Egyptian heritage site since 2017 (with the exception of 2020).
    Nadine A. Ghaffar, founder of Art D’Égypte, called the exhibition a “token of hope for humanity and a humble tribute to a civilization that stands the test of time.
    “Egyptian culture is a gift to humanity, and the purpose of this exhibition is to showcase these treasures in a dialogue with the contemporary on an international scale,” she said in a statement. “Ancient Egypt has influenced artists from around the world, and so we bring the world to Egypt and Egypt to the world through art.”

    In an Instagram post, JR explained that he was invited to participate in the Egypt show following his wildly popular installation at the Louvre in 2016. With his new sculpture, titled Greetings from Giza, the artist is also dipping a toe into the world of NFTs for the first time. 
    He cut the installation’s image file into 4,591 pieces—the approximate age of the pyramids—so that “each piece becomes one NFT,” he explained in a separate post. “The pieces are very similar to what my monumental installations look like from very close—black and white dots, a bit abstract—but then make sense when all assembled together.” 
    The artist added that he has hidden “743 hieroglyph rarities,” each with a secret message, throughout the collection. Registration for the NFTs opened today on a dedicated website, where they will soon sell for what appears to be ​​$250 a pop.
    In the meantime, see more images of the artworks in “Forever Is Now” below. 

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    A Trove of Recently Rediscovered Watercolours by Hilma af Klint Are Being Sold by David Zwirner, But Only an Institution Can Buy Them

    A 2018 exhibition on the pioneering spiritual abstractionist Hilma af Klint’s (1862–1944) at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York essentially rewrote the art history books, recognizing the Swedish artist at long last as the inventor of abstraction. Now, her work is returning to the Upper East Side, where David Zwirner will unveil a recently discovered group of eight watercolors.
    The exhibition features one of two copies of “The Tree of Knowledge,” a series of watercolors on paper the artist made between 1913 and 1915. Until recently, it was assumed that the Hilma af Klint Foundation owned the only copy of the works, but it turns out she made a second version for her friend Rudolf Steiner, founder of Anthroposophy, a spiritual and philosophical movement that inspired the artist.
    When Steiner died in 1925, the artwork passed to Albert Steffen, his successor as president of the Anthroposophical Society, as well as a poet and painter. His foundation, the Albert Steffen Stiftung in Dornach, Switzerland, only recently realized it was sitting on a trove of af Klint’s work, which now belongs to a private collector.
    “I am thrilled to be exhibiting ‘Tree of Knowledge’ by Hilma af Klint, which has such a fascinating history. This is the only major work that exists outside of the foundation’s collection,” Zwirner told Artnet News in an email. “The fact that she personally gave this set of watercolors to Rudolf Steiner, whose philosophical beliefs deeply influenced her, is remarkable.”
    Hilma af Klint. As seen in Beyond the Visible, a film by Halina Dyrschka. Photo courtesy of Kino Lorber.
    Af Klint began experimenting with abstract, symbolic paintings in 1906, years before similar innovations from more widely credited artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and Kazimir Malevich. Her route to abstraction, of course, was not through the avant-garde art community, but through the spiritual and supernatural world.
    Her work was forgotten for decades, in part due to specifications in her will that prevented it from being exhibited, as she believed society was not ready to understand her otherworldly vision.
    That view may have been prescient, since af Klint’s work has only become wildly popular in recent years. Her show at the Guggenheim proved an unlikely blockbuster, attracting a record of over 600,000 visitors during its run in 2018 and 2019, and she inspired a 2020 documentary film, Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint.
    Installation view, “Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future.” Photo by David Heald, ©Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
    The first part of a seven-volume catalogue raisonné for the artist came out in February, and af Klint is currently featured in “Women in Abstraction” at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (through February 27, 2022).
    At Zwirner, the works will be available for sale to institutional buyers, price on request. Despite the artist’s growing fame, only 51 works have ever been offered at auction, with a top price of just 1,600,000 SEK ($165,825) set in 2019, according to the Artnet Price Database. The previous record of 220,000 SEK ($35,871) had stood since 1990, and only nine other works have topped four figures.
    “Hilma af Klint: Tree of Knowledge” will be on view at David Zwirner, 34 East 69th Street, New York, November 3–December 18, 2021.
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    Carlos Rodriguez “Primer Encuentro” Limited Edition Print – Available October 21st

    Artist Carlos Rodriguez have collaborated with ArtPort for his newest limited edition print entitled “Primer Encuentro”. Primer Encuentro (First Encounter) is the painting that opens the artist’s series ‘Costumbres Amorosas de los Animales’ (The Loving Habits of Animals).The overall motif of it was to explore the similarities between human and animal behaviours when interacting with other living beings. Primer Encuentro is also a sort of fable about love at first sight. The character is naked in a mysterious and exotic jungle with Henry Rousseau’s touch. He embraces a gigantic rhinoceros, in a magical encounter, under an intense orange afternoon sun that permeates everything with a golden hue, to Rodríguez that light cast a touch of eternity and a sort of solemn happiness.Primer Encuentro comes in an edition of 30 and measures 50 x 70 cm. Technique used is Giclee & Etching on SIHL Smooth Matt Cotton Paper 320 gr.The print will be available on October 21, 2021, Thursday 7PM HK Time (7AM NYC, 4AM LA, 9PM Melbourne, 12PM UK, 8PM Tokyo) at ArtPort website.The paintings in the series all have a short text written on the back of the canvas. Rodríguez imagined the moment when two people meet for the first time as two inevitable forces colliding. The animals he related to the most were rhinoceroses with their brute and intense force, mainly because they are solitary, very territorial and practically blind creatures. They were portraited in early medieval drawings wearing strange armours. The back of Primer Encuentro (First Encounter) reads:We, two irresistible forces that have met,lonesome and armoured, a little clumsy and blind,surrendering ourselves to a greater love.Rodríguez is known for his drawings, paintings, and ceramics that explore the male body, sexual desire as a creative impulse, and issues of gender and identity. Inspired by classical paintings, naïve art and porn, his playful work reveals scenes of men naturally engaged in their games and fantasies.ArtPort is a publishing house established in 2020. ArtPort supplies limited high-quality editions and prints by artists from the new contemporary art wave. Created around the theme of travelling, ArtPort aims to have people on board, offering them a journey through the art world and an easy way to bring it to their homes. Each edition is a unique and exclusive collaboration between ArtPort and leading contemporary artists. More

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    New mural by Conor Harrington in Cork, Ireland

    Ardú Street Art project made a triumphant return to Cork city for their second edition, bringing some of the country’s most exciting street artists to create thought-provoking, large-scale murals across the cityscape: Friz’s “Goddess Cliodhna” at St Finbarr’s Road, Shane O’Malley’s bold and bright coloured angular shapes and colours on Lower Glanmire Road, Asbestos’ “What is home?” at South Main Street.The fourth and final piece of the current series has now been revealed, painted by Cork-born, world-renowned artist Conor Harrington at Bishop Lucey Park (Grand Parade entrance). Based in London since the mid 2000s, Harrington has created street art in New York, Miami, Paris, London, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Aalborg, Mallorca, Sao Paulo, San Juan, and the Bethlehem Wall; this is Conor’s first large-scale mural in his hometown.Harrington says, “My favourite part of Cork is the English market. I used to do as much of my shopping as possible there when I lived in Tower Street, before moving to London. And every time I’m home I’m always sure to have a stroll through and soak up some of the atmosphere. I’ve used the English Market as a starting point for my mural, the gate of which is opposite my wall. It was built in 1788 and has seen us through famine, boom and bust. In my painting, a man sets a table, a composition of fruit and veg in the manner of a lot of still life paintings from the 18th Century, when the English market and much of the Grand Parade and Patrick’s Street was built. The table is overflowing with fruit, an abundance of fresh produce that has been available in the market for years. I’ve included a doll’s house on the table to illustrate how Cork is a city built on food and how our culinary scene is one of our greatest assets. I’ve also included a fire extinguisher on the table as a reminder of the Burning of Cork 101 years ago, and that although the market was mostly spared, damage was still done.In the mural I’ve played with proportion and inverted the traditional scale of figure and dwelling to exacerbate the idea of the Georgian figure as a looming power or Lord over his domain. In my work I examine the role and legacy of the empire, and try to find parallels in contemporary culture. By including the doll’s house as a reference to home, housing and the current crisis in Ireland and the abundant fruit table which is in a state of overflow and collapse, I’m asking the question to whom does power and plenty belong? Despite this historical foundation, my mural is ultimately about the balance of abundance and excess, and the fall which inevitably follows.”Many local businesses in Cork have rallied behind the work that Ardú do throughout the city, a major supporter is Pat McDonnell Paints, who supplied the artists with some of their materials for this year’s programme:“Here at Pat McDonnell Paints, we are firm believers in how paint can transform the spaces we live in. We were delighted to support Ardú and their artists bring colour and vibrancy to Cork City.140 litres of paint tinted in over 22 colours and Conor Harrington talent and vision have given us a modern day masterpiece in a corner of Bishops Lucey Park.” – Aidan McDonnell, Pat McDonnell Paints.Commissioning artwork from home grown talent of the highest level is the main aim of Ardú, which is supported by Cork City Council and Creative Ireland, and with paint generously sponsored by local businesses Pat McDonnell Paints, and spray paint from Vibes & Scribes.In order to cover total costs for this year’s event (paying for the artists fees, painting materials, maintenance,  etc.) and to help secure the future of Ardú Street Art Project, the crew need YOUR support.Ardú’s fundraiser allows for four donation options – €10, €20, €50, or €100 – everyone who donates is entered into a raffle to win a signed photo print of artwork from the 2020 Ardú series, which featured works by artists Maser, Peter Martin, Shane O’Driscoll, Deirdre Breen, Garreth Joyce, Aches and James Earley. There will be 5 winners chosen at random and each winner can select an artwork of their choice. The raffle is available to enter online via bigcartel: https://arducork.bigcartel.com/ More

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    Coverage: “Ethereal” Group Exhibition at Volery Gallery, Dubai, UAE

    Last October 14th, Volery Gallery opened Ethereal group exhibition curated by Rom Levy the gallery’s Founder and Senior Curator. The show brings together a group of prominent contemporary artists whose work portrays familiar figurations to earthly experiences; nevertheless, these sceneries are preoccupied with a different world than that of the tangible here and now.The exhibiting artists include Roby Dwi Antono (Indonesia), Canyon Castator (CA, USA), Haeji Min (South Korea), Adriana Oliver (Spain), Sun Kyo Park (South Korea) , Aleksey and Anton Tvorogov (Russia), and TIDE (Japan).Ethereal explores the tension between the figures and the space surrounding them, creating a magnetic and out of this universe space, exploring themes of identity, humanity and subjectivity, creating a portal to a new dimension where the colours and the subjects come together to create an exquisite and enchanting world.Regardless of art’s origin or destination, it is an international language spoken by all different nations and cultures, Volery offers the viewer the space to examine a body of work that sheds light on various styles and techniques that are present in the progressing art movements and events.The exhibition will run until November 11, 2021 at Volery Gallery, DIFC, Dubai, UAE. Gallery hours: 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM.Schedule your visit here.Scroll down below for more photo of the exhibition and its opening night! More

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    “Monumental Moments – The Hug” by Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada in New York City

    The internationally renowned contemporary artist, Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada best known for his urban large-scale mural portraits and his colossal land-art pieces, has just presented his collaboration with the California based company Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. an original piece of art called Monumental Moments – The Hug, a nearly 10-foot-tall and 500 pounds bronze sculpture that immortalizes the monumental times everyone has experienced during the pandemic and celebrates the human spirit, the resilience of the mental health community and all those who have been impacted by the pandemic.Inspired by the hundreds of stories shared on MonumentalMoments.com over the past year, Monumental Moments – The Hug was unveiled on Thursday, October 7, to coincide with Mental Illness Awareness Week (October 3-9) and ahead of World Mental Health Day (October 10) at New York City’s iconic Lincoln Center.Performing during the reveal was the internationally renowned, Boston-based Me2/Orchestra, the world’s only known classical music organization created specifically for individuals living with mental illness and the people who support them. The orchestra created an original musical score to kick off the Monumental Moments initiative in October 2020.The Monumental Moments community platform and charitable initiative was created to offer hope, support, inspiration and a way for the mental health community and all those facing challenges during the pandemic to connect and share how they’re prioritizing their mental health. The Monumental Moments community is now encouraging people to share any lessons learned since the start of the pandemic, what they are grateful for and how they continue to care for their mental health. 47% of the adult population in the USA affirms to suffer negative impacts on their mental health after the pandemic yet (source KFF).“I am honored to work with Neurocrine Biosciences to join the Monumental Moments initiative and create something that means so much to me. The sculpture is dedicated to those who have been struggling with their mental health because of the pandemic and represents the importance of supporting each other during these unprecedented times,” Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada said. “Art can help bring people together, and I hope the sculpture will remind us all that we can overcome these difficult times as a community.”To usher in this time of reflection, Rodriguez-Gerada’s sculpture of a hug, developed in collaboration with international art and design foundry UAP, represents the importance of connection and supporting each other and how much many of us missed hugging loved ones during these trying times.Research demonstrates that hugging can help minimize negative emotions and support a more positive state of being. 1 The sculpture depicts two adults and a child in an embrace through a complex bronze work thought in order to create the feeling of transparency and the illusion of movement, depending on your point of view. The green ribbon woven throughout represents the importance of continued mental health awareness and support, while highlighting the significance of this year’s Mental Illness Awareness Week and World Mental Health Day.“The Hug“, by Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada is also a technical tour de force: the foundry of bronze was realized using a very innovative technique called ‘the lost wax’ combined with advanced 3D printing, mixing traditional and avant garde ways of working. The primary model is built on wax directly, being an exact replica of the future finished piece which allows injecting the liquid bronze metal without filling any mold.“Last year in support of the launch of Monumental Moments, we debuted an original score to bring to life the emotional impact this time has had on many,” said Caroline Whiddon, Executive Director and cofounder of Me2/Orchestra. “This year, we are pleased to perform again and stand alongside Jorge and this magnificent sculpture to celebrate the resilience of the Monumental Moments community that has grown over time.”Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, a Cuban American contemporary artist, is recognized worldwide for his unique “urban” large-scale mural portraits that can be seen from space. By utilizing walls and floors as canvases and citizens as models, he became one of the most well-known urban artists who displays his work on walls of different cities around the world.Rodriguez-Gerada began his career in the early 90s as a founding member of New York’s Culture Jamming Movement. Since then, he has mastered his artistic directions as a muralist, sculptor and land artist. Rodriguez-Gerada has created a series of important large-scale murals, including his work in Queens, New York, memorializing the late Dr. Decoo, a Latino pediatrician who lost his life after battling the pandemic in New York City, and the Hispanic and African American communities who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19.Scroll down below for more photos of “Monumental Moments – The Hug”Photo credits:  Noam Galai, Getty Images for Spectrum Science More

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    In Town for Paris Art Week? Here Are 7 Must-See Museum Shows From Martin Margiela, Marlene Dumas, and Other Artists

    The Frieze tent in London’s Regent’s Park has barely been disassembled and yet eyes have already shifted to Paris. This week, the French capital will welcome FIAC back to the Grand Palais Éphémère for the fair’s 47th edition, this year boasting 170 exhibitors. Elsewhere, the quirkier Paris Internationale will again set up shop in an intimate, residential building at 168 Avenue Victor Hugo, from where the smaller fair will continue its mission to champion emerging galleries.
    Also participating in Paris Art Week are the city’s art institutions, a number of which are mounting a slew of high-caliber exhibitions, the quality of which is so laudable—so “must-see”—that you might even be up prompted to consider cutting fair time in favor of an old-fashioned museum excursion.
    Here are seven you won’t want to miss.
    “Ouverture” at Pinault Collection
    Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Vigil for a Horseman (2017). ©Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Exhibition view, “Ouverture”, Bourse de Commerce—Pinault Collection, 2021. Courtesy the artist and Pinault Collection. Photo by Aurélien Mole.
    Still fresh from its May unveiling, the new Bourse de Commerce–Collection Pinault continues to bask in that undeniable sparkle of the new. Collector François Pinault’s long-awaited Parisian venture now proudly stands in the Les Halles district, occupying a historic building revitalized under the guidance of visionary architect Tadao Ando.
    Celebrating the museum’s inauguration is “Ouverture,” an ambitious group presentation of 200 works by 32 artists, installed across all 10 exhibition spaces. Works by David Hammons, Cindy Sherman, Maurizio Cattelan, Sherrie Levine, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Antonio Obá, Urs Fischer, and Kerry James Marshall appear in a sprawling display where each artist on view is a heavyweight in their own right.
    Pinault Collection, 2 rue de Viarmes, 75001 Paris; through December 31, 2021.
    “Anne Imhof: Natures Mortes”at Palais de Tokyo
    Anne Imhof, ROOM VI (2021). Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Buchholz and Sprüth Magers. Photo: Andrea Rossetti.
    Demand for tickets to “experience” the German artist’s newest project has gotten so intense that Palais de Tokyo implemented nightly extended hours through the show’s close. (At the time of writing, only eight “exceptional” days remain.) In signature Imhof fashion, “Natures Mortes” is touted more as a spectacle than an exhibition, taking over the Parisian center’s entire space with “an all-embracing, polyphonic work” of music, painting, drawing, and, of course, performance.
    The Golden Lion winner also invited a cast of 30 artist “accomplices” to participate in a mysterious team venture that involves fellow artists Oscar Murillo, Precious Okoyomon, Jutta Koether, and Wolfgang Tillmans.
    Palais de Tokyo, 13 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris; through October 24, 2021.
    “Marlene Dumas: Le Spleen de Paris and Conversations”at Musée d’Orsay
    Marlene Dumas, Hafid Bouazza (2020). Courtesy Marlene Dumas. Photo: © Peter Cox, Eindhoven.
    In an ode to Baudelaire and his enduring influence, esteemed contemporary painter Marlene Dumas produced 15 new works born from a collaboration with the late author and translator Hafid Bouazza, and timed to the bicentenary of Baudelaire’s birth, in 1821. Poetry and literature are well-known factors that shape Dumas’s work, and this new series was inspired by the legendary French poet’s collection Le Spleen de Paris. Portraits of figures such as Baudelaire and artist Jean Duval are displayed alongside still lifes that respond to a poem, or contain image motifs, such as a rat or a bottle, referenced within the poetry collection.
    Musée d’Orsay, Esplanade Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, 75007 Paris; through January 30, 2022.
    ‘Bonaventure (Trafficking worlds)’at Fondation d’Entreprise Pernod Ricard
    “Bonaventure (Trafiquer les mondes).” Installation view, from left to right: Minia Biabiany, Meris Angioletti, Gina Folly. Photo: Thomas Lannes, 2021.
    Curated by Lilou Vidal, this group exhibition—also known as the 22nd Pernod Ricard Foundation Prize show—brings together (you guessed it) the nominees currently up for the award, which since 1999 has been recognizing artists under 40. Themes of storytelling and the occult dominate this year’s iteration (its title, bonaventure, refers to the uncertainty and risk involved in fortune telling), with rising stars such as Tarek Lakhrissi and Gina Folly included in the lineup of nine participants.
    Fondation d’entreprise Pernod Ricard, 1 cours Paul Ricard, 75008 Paris; through October 30, 2021.
    Martin Margielaat Lafayette Anticipations
    © Martin Margiela.
    Even though the trend of “fashion as art” has already peaked—and at this point is veering dangerously close to cliche—Lafayette Anticipations combats such associations head on by noting in the press text that Martin Margiela, founder of French fashion house Maison Margiela, “has always been an artist.”
    Margiela is categorized here as an iconoclast, whose work across various media influenced his unbiased approach to material, providing him an attitude that regards a Caravaggio painting or a box of hair dye with equal significance. The show, organized by distinguished curator Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel, is framed as a single artwork in itself, encompassing installations, sculptures, collages, paintings, and films, all being shown publicly for the first time in a “labyrinthine” setting.
    Lafayette Anticipations, 9 rue du Plâtre, F-75004 Paris, October 20, 2021 – January 2, 2022.

    “Bianca Bondi: The Daydream”at Fondation Louis Vuitton
    Bianca Bondi, detail of The Daydream (2021). Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris. © Adagp, Paris, 2021, © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage.
    For her first one-person museum outing in France, Bianca Bondi has erected an indoor garden which drew original influence from Mexican cenotes, a form of region-specific topography that is heavily steeped in myth. The artist’s multisensory installation is situated around a central well outfitted with synthetic lungs, or alveoli. The well serves as the site’s primary energy source, by which its lungs regularly emit a colored, fragrant saline solution that “nourishes” the vegetation, flowers, and creepy-crawlers dwelling on branches in this half-fake, half-natural ecosystem. Bondi, who was born in South Africa and now lives in Paris, is an artist to watch: She also has a concurrent solo show at Fondation Carmignac in Porquerolles, France, and is slated to participate in the 2022 Gwangju Biennale.
    Fondation Louis Vuitton, 8 Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi Bois de Boulogne, 75116 Paris; through January 24, 2022.
    Jean Claracqat Musée Eugène Delacroix
    Jean Claracq, Working Class Hero (2021). Courtesy the artist and Galerie Sultana. Photo: Romain Darnaud.
    As part of FIAC’s programming, the emerging painter Jean Claracq has debuted seven new paintings at Musée Delacroix. Created in direct response to two Delacroix works from the Old Master’s namesake permanent collection, Claracq’s compositions examine the tension inherent in contrasting perceptions. Produced in the artist’s typical small-scale format, these new paintings encourage a dialogue with those of Eugène Delacroix. Despite centuries of separation, Claracq possesses distinct similarities to the most influential artist of the French Romantic school, particularly in their shared attempts to capture an individual’s internal distress, especially as it may be influenced by a sense of helplessness in a chaotic world.
    Musée Eugène Delacroix, 6 Rue de Furstemberg, 75006 Paris; through November 1, 2021.
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