Opening on Friday 21.03
At Le Plateau (5-8pm), then at Les Réserves (7-10pm)
Curator : Céline Poulin
Associate curator : Camille Minh-Lan Gouin
Scientific advisor : Michel Huynh, General Curator, Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge
Scenography : AGATHE LABAYE • FLORIAN SUMI
With artworks by :
Nils Alix-Tabeling, Carlotta Bailly-Borg, Jacopo Belloni, Bernard Berthois-Rigal, Camille Bernard, Peter Briggs, Aëla Maï Cabel, Rose-Mahé Cabel, L. Camus-Govoroff, Pascal Convert, Mélanie Courtinat, Parvine Curie, Neïla Czermak Ichti, Corentin Darré, Caroline Delieutraz, Mimosa Echard, Frederik Exner, Héloïse Farago, Teresa Fernandez-Pello, Alison Flora, Lucia Hadjam, Laurent Jardin-Dragovan, Nicolas Kennett, Agathe Labaye & Florian Sumi, Lou Le Forban, Liz Magor, Pauline Marx, Ibrahim Meïté Sikely, Philippe Mohlitz, Raphaël Moreira Gonçalves, Léo Penven, Théophile Peris, Jérémy Piningre, Agnes Scherer, Cecil Serres, François Stahly, Wolfgang Tillmans, Gérard Trignac, Clémence van Lunen, Xolo Cuintle and Radouan Zeghidour
Pop culture and the medieval :
The image of the berserker, the legendary warrior, has spawned a number of offspring in film, video games, manga and rap music. In many myths, the berserker is connected to the earth, to animality, advancing without armor. In Kentarō Miura’s work, it’s through his armor that Guts becomes a berserker. The masterful drawings that animate the story of this manga are brimming with European medieval references, whether direct or inspired by darkly hued 19th-century medievalist masterpieces.
Pyrrhia, on the other hand, is a butterfly that gave its name to an imaginary island, described in the books Les Royaumes de feu (Tui T. Sutherland), where reason-gifted dragons reign, depopulated by humans, yet there are small beings walking on two legs with a tuft of hair on their heads, called scavengers. More precisely, this Pyrrhia umbra butterfly is also known as “The Chrysograph”, the name of the writers who created the illuminations in grimoires.
Contemporary and medieval art :
This medieval heroic fantasy imagery of pop culture inhabits the worlds of today’s artists. The off-center view of the human that reigns there opens up a different approach to the future. In the contemporary works exhibited at Le Plateau and Les Réserves, the return to the land, magical parables or straw huts, humanized animals and insects, enchanted or evil, appear in turn as fantasies or fears in a world drowned in uncertainty. The apocalypse, a recurring motif in medieval art, and its monstrous or dreamlike bestiary are not to be outdone. Love, friendship and social relations are imbued with these ancient models distorted by the contemporary gaze. The pleasures of recycling and do-it-yourself make their mark with less polluting, more responsible materials.
The Berserk & Pyrrhia* exhibition highlights the circulation of medieval images and their later appropriation, and brings together medieval and contemporary art. Medieval works are on display at the Plateau and in the Réserves, thanks to loans from the region’s rich heritage collections**, while works by contemporary artists in turn come into contact with medieval heritage by taking over the region’s historic monuments, continuing this intergenerational and transhistorical dialogue.
A diptych between Le Plateau and Les Réserves :
In a diptych between Le Plateau and Les Réserves, the exhibition deploys different forms of hybridization. At Le Plateau, in the spirit of Berserk, and with reference to the more mystical and romantic nineteenth-century interpretation of the medieval period, the works take us on an obscure and dark journey. At Les Réserves, they draw their references from the marvelous, anthropomorphic creatures and medieval bestiary. In this way, they transport us to the world of Pyrrhia, underlining the important place of craftsmanship and community ties.
Off-site :
Curator : Rémi Enguehard, in collaboration with the education department of the Frac Île-de-France, and the teams of the partner venues
A whole section outside the walls pulls threads from the dense ball of thought. To wit :
- Rethinking the relationship with nature and the non-human through the revival of medieval bestiary
- Valuing or rediscovering pre-modern knowledge and modes of production, in an autonomy of production
- Re-examining social relationships around the community ;
- Confront the future of our world and our imaginations with the worlds of apocalypse and the marvelous
- Analyze the circulation of images between contemporary pop culture, medieval sources and rereadings across the centuries, particularly in the 19th century.
Exhibition produced in collaboration with Musée de Cluny – musée national du Moyen Âge
* The title refers to the manga Berserk by Kentarō Miura and the books Les Royaumes de feu by Tui T. Sutherland.
** Loans from Ile-de-France heritage collections
- ARCHÉA collection, Louvres, 95.
- Collection du département d’histoire de l’architecture et de l’archéologie de la Ville de Paris, 75.
- Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Melun collection, 77.
- Musée Bossuet collection, Cité épiscopale de Meaux, 77
- Musée Carnavalet collection – Histoire de Paris, 75
- Departmental collections of Musée archéologique du Val d’Oise, Guiry-en-Vexin, 95.
Wednesday workshops and visits for children
ARTISTES EN HERBE
Cycle of workshops on Wednesdays 26.03, 30.04, 28.05, and 25.06.25 from 2.30pm to 4pm
Ages 6 to 12 (unaccompanied)
Dive into the exhibition to find medieval inspiration, design works of art and become real artists!
Free, registration required
DOUDOUS VISITS
Wednesdays 23.04, 11.06, and 09.07.25 from 11am to 12pm
Children aged 3 to 5, accompanied by their families.
Follow the adventures of a magical creature on an interactive tour, punctuated by mini-games.
Free with reservation
Saturday workshops for children
Exhibition visits and workshops for 6-12 year-olds
Every first Saturday of the month, Le Plateau offers children a tour of the exhibitions, followed by a hands-on experience.
ARTISTS’ FAMILIES
Saturdays 05.04, 03.05, 07.06, and 05.07.25 from 2.30pm to 4pm
Ages 6 to 12, children accompanied by their parents
Explore the medieval world of Berserk and Pyrrhia on a fun, interactive tour followed by a family creative workshop: sculpture, puppets, monsters and much more!
Free with reservation
MANGAKA OF THE FUTURE
Saturday 17.05.25 non-stop from 3pm to 6pm
Ages 12 and up, self-guided
Immerse yourself in the fantasy world of Berserk and become a real mangaka!
Mini studio
Art workshops led by an artist.
The courses are structured around the work of an artist and a theme, with each session offering a privileged opportunity to meet, practice and exchange ideas, for a lively approach to contemporary art.
Carlotta Sandoval Lizzaralde
Thursday 24.04 and Friday 25.04.25
Free with reservation
Corentin Darré
Monday 07.07 and Tuesday 08.07.25
Free on reservation