” All men dream: but not in the same way. Those who dream at night in the depths of their souls wake up in the morning to think it was all just a breeze: but those who dream in broad daylight are dangerous people, because they act out their dreams with their eyes wide open and want the real world to be like their dream. And that’s what I’ve done. “T.E. Lawrence
Until January 09, 2011, the “Who are you Peter?” exhibition atEspace culturel Louis Vuitton explores the theme of eternal childhood through the myth of Peter Pan. Thirteen artists from the contemporary scene take up the tale and give their vision of the character born in 1904 from the pen of Scottish writer James Matthew Barrie.
Michel François, 2010 Scribble, Tube d’aluminium, Plâtre, dimensions variables Courtesy Gallery Xavier Hufkens, Bruxelles © Adagp, Paris 2010
Peter Pan is a boy who refuses to grow up, and has since become the contemporary myth of the eternal child. Unconcerned about the impossible, his imagination is his most faithful ally, feeding the never-ending stream of adventures of which he is always the hero. In recent times, it has become a syndrome that characterizes people fleeing the responsibilities of adult life. But isn’t it rather the creative dimension hidden within each of us, where daring meets the impossible to expand the world into the unknown, that Peter Pan represents? This is the question the thirteen artists have tried to answer, through 13 very distinct and sometimes very adult perspectives on the link between childhood and creativity.
Lothar Hempel, 2006, Voyage sans fin, Bateau, MDF, photographic paper, lights 203.2 x 114.3 x 325.1 cm 80 x 45 x 128 ins © Lothar Hempel
The experience begins as soon as you enter the 400 m² Espace Louis Vuitton, dedicated to contemporary art, on the 7th floor of the Vuitton store on the Champs-Elysées. There’s only one way to get there: an elevator designed by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, with a little surprise for the uninitiated that puts us right in the mood. We then enter an airlock that leads us to“Neverland“, Peter Pan’s kingdom.
Grégoire Bourdeil, 2010 Everland © Grégoire Bourdeil
The exhibition opens with the work of artist Grégoire Bourdeil, who presents a multi-stage installation on the theme of the pirate and the frontier between good and evil. Everland features two walls of photographs, one showing a poster for a non-existent film, the other containing photos from the film, taken in Paris, Moscow and New York, all of which demonstrate the infiltration of modern piracy into financial, political and religious circles.
Grégoire Bourdeil, 2010 Tirage couleur, 60 x 40 cm © Grégoire Bourdeil
Jolly Roger symbolizes this new pirate symbol and floats above the Maison Louis Vuitton. But the most interesting part of his installation remains Wendy, a video installation showing how fiction can bend reality to its image by making the aluminum diving board in front of us sway as Wendy falls, visible in the video. This staging of the captive and gagged Wendy perfectly symbolizes the passage to adulthood and the loss of innocence.
Melonie Foster Hennessy, 2010 Qui a le temps de grandir ???????, Installation, 1/180 photographie, portrait de Peter Pan (Dorian), projection en technique 3D Courtesy Galerie Vanessa Quang © Melonie Foster Hennessy
Melonie Foster Hennessy ‘s installation Qui a le temps de grandir ??????? (Who has time to grow up?) penetrates time by confronting Wendy’s desire to grow up with Peter Pan’s eternal childhood, through a sound photographic work projecting holograms of faces, one of which undergoes the passage of time from age 7 to 77.
Laurent Pernot, 2010, Vous ne mourrez jamais, Néon, Fusain sur papier Courtesy Galerie Odile Ouizeman © Laurent Pernot
Laurent Pernot considers death and eternity through two installations. The video installation La Fenêtre (The Window) proposes an exterior landscape through which we can perhaps observe the imaginary country. The artist’s most powerful work is a neon sign entitled Vous ne mourrez jamais. The artist hijacks the advertising sign to pose a central existential question that has become the keystone of Peter Pan, who has decided not to grow up and, by extension, not to die.
Arnaud Kalos, 2010 Des ombres dans la magie du trésor, Les Enfants au trésor © Nicolas Julliard
Arnaud Kalos conjures up a film called Les Enfants au Trésor, in which shadows burst into the treasure trove of childhood. He uses the film shot by his mother when he and his siblings discovered a treasure trove of 6,000 silver coins dating from the 3rd century. In it, the artist depicts shadows represented by our silhouettes silhouetted through the projection beam, allegories of childhood fears but above all a highlight of the shadowy side of the world.
Nicolas Julliard, 2010 L’hydrophyle, Captures vidéo © Nicolas Julliard
Virginie Yassef, in a giant gold nugget, opens up an elsewhere A six suns de marche , while the Chinese Ji Ji descends to earth in a dream. Jean-Philippe Illanès presents Peter Pan’s house in the Rue de Bassano showcase, where objects have undergone strange detour. Argentina’s Marina de Caro imagines educational utopias, and Nicolas Julliard ‘sHydrophile video probes abysmal but terribly soothing confines. Janaina Tschäpe proposes the ecology of Neverland, Peter Pan’s island, while Lothar Hempel stages charades and Michel François constructs ideas.
Jérôme Zonder, Papa, Fusain sur papier Courtesy Galerie Eva Hober © Jérôme Zonder
In my opinion, the most moving and magical work is the installation by Jérôme Zonder. At the turn of a door, the Espace Culturel’s circulation corridor begins, a narrow, enclosed space that allows you to move from one part to another. Stretching over several meters, the installation The father’s and mother’s wood appears all around us, drawing us into a strange and fascinating universe. A total black-and-white fresco, covering all the walls, floors and ceilings, envelops us, but it’s practically a vision of a mass grave, of tangled, partially-naked bodies, skulls and hellish images, a graphic nightmare that leads us to the portraits of Peter Pan’s father Papa and mother Maman. This fresco, a powerful vanity, can’t just be seen, it becomes almost alive: you walk through it, try to get around it, cross it, but end up trampling these tangled bodies to the ground, because there’s no escaping it.
The ” Who are you Peter? ” exhibition is first and foremost a magnificent scenographic achievement, with a highly appreciable diversity of works. Taking advantage of the labyrinthine meanderings of the Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, visitors lose themselves and move from one space to another, opening a door to enter a new universe, then moving back again. They are drawn from one work to the next, completely caught up in a kind of articulation around dreamlike and sometimes disturbing universes. We are plunged into a world where all our senses are awakened, and where the question posed takes on its full meaning.
La fenêtre - Laurent Pernot
But above all, by losing our adult bearings in this sensory labyrinth and confronting us with a wonderful and sometimes cruel world, ” Who are you Peter? What if Peter was, after all, that part of the unconscious that lies at the root of all our creativity, and which we call childhood?
Who are you, Peter ?
October 1, 2010 to January 9, 2011
Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton
60, rue de Bassano, 75008 Paris
Open Monday to Saturday from 12:00 to 19:00, Sunday from 11:00 to 19:00.
Free admission.
Marie-Odile Radom
Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)
