GALLERY TRIP: Paris

This week, I participated in a virtual trip to Paris, where I was able to view a number of current exhibitions. It was an experience to see how various galleries had created an immersive online encounter with their works on show. The public can continue to benefit from the cultural richness provided by these institutions and smaller galleries during restrictions dictated by lockdowns and limited access. It also gives an opportunity for artists work to continue to be given a platform to engage with the public.

Tokyo de Palais has an excellent online set up at the moment and I recommend anyone take a look. Sarah Sze is showing at Fondation Cartier. On their website the public can access a film 'Walk through the exhibition', which records Sze and Bruno Latour in conversation as they walk and talk in depth about her current installation, 'Night into Day'.

The Centre Pompidou has some interesting works on show too, but I found the website harder to access. I was interested in seeing 'Neither Swan nor Moon', which consists of a collection of works from a relatively unknown fragment of the Czech artistic scene. They are mainly photographers, and include the artist Bela Kolářová who I have come across before and would have liked to see. I will continue to try to access this show, but it has highlighted to me the importance of making artistic outlets possible during these unsual times.

In response to this experience, I endeavoured to make some work that both reflected my own practice and the inspiration I received from the Paris Galleries virtual trip. In particular reference to Sarah Sze's installation I put together an assemblage of my excavated objects and recent experimental workshop outcomes. Below is an image showing the result of this project. I hope to continue to develop this further, and feel that this task has helped me to materialize ideas and past work, opening up possiblities for me to explore a new direction.

Sarah Sze, Night into Day, Fondation Cartier

Response to a virtual trip to the Paris galleries

First published on the 9th December 2020