La Rivière m’a dit

La Rivière m’a dit (The River Told Me)

Grand Opening on Wenesday 23th January,
from 6pm to 9pm

Melanie Bonajo, Charlotte Cherici, Nashashibi/Skaer,
Ben Rivers, Ben Russell, Margaret Salmon

Exhibition curator : Xavier Franceschi

Whether a strange journey to Tahiti following in Gauguin’s footsteps, the portrait of a solitary recluse in the middle of the woods philosophising about the origin and fate of mankind, children learning about fauna in a forest setting, a quasi-mythical scene showing a group of men, women and children bathing in a river, portraits of four women defying conventional lifestyles, or recordings and visions of healing ceremonies in the Peruvian Amazon, the exhibition La Rivière m’a dit presents a series of works within which nature occupies a prominent place in a variety of ways.

Addressing issues regarding nature inevitably leaves us with a rather grim outlook. The impending ecological disaster is becoming a more unbearable reality by the day, while man is still failing to redefine his vital relationship with the world.

While the exhibition and works do not necessarily take overtly political and ecological stances, La Rivière m’a dit is an exhibition that seems to suggest alternative avenues despite being tinged with nostalgia and mirroring a lost paradise.

Consisting exclusively of videos that are mostly from the collection, La Rivière m’a dit runs like a long visual poem in the dark spaces of Le Plateau: a lost paradise, or more positively, a providential place for real regeneration.

Vues de l’exposition La Rivière m’a dit, frac île-de-france, le plateau 24.01 – 14.04.19
Vues de l’exposition La Rivière m’a dit, frac île-de-france, le plateau 24.01 – 14.04.19
Vues de l’exposition La Rivière m’a dit, frac île-de-france, le plateau 24.01 – 14.04.19
Vues de l’exposition La Rivière m’a dit, frac île-de-france, le plateau 24.01 – 14.04.19
Vues de l’exposition La Rivière m’a dit, frac île-de-france, le plateau 24.01 – 14.04.19
Vues de l’exposition La Rivière m’a dit, frac île-de-france, le plateau 24.01 – 14.04.19
Vues de l’exposition La Rivière m’a dit, frac île-de-france, le plateau 24.01 – 14.04.19
Vues de l’exposition La Rivière m’a dit, frac île-de-france, le plateau 24.01 – 14.04.19
Vue de l’exposition La Rivière m’a dit, Ben Russell, River Rites, 2012 © Ben Russell
Vues de l’exposition La Rivière m’a dit, frac île-de-france, le plateau 24.01 – 14.04.19