Laurent Grasso: "Uraniborg"

Laurent Grasso has conceived his exhibition at Jeu de Paume around the recurring concerns of his work, in which the relation to time and temporality becomes uncertain, as is the origin of the objects he creates. His exhibition devices always change the architecture of the host space, and his pieces challenge the viewer’s perceptions with situations that, while well documented in history or mythology, also contain an undefined aesthetic and fictional potential. Laurent Grasso apprehends reality in terms of its limits, invoking things that are known or familiar, and questioning problematics at the forefront of contemporary experience.

In his exploration of the notions of space and temporality, Laurent Grasso loves the idea of “creating a false historical memory,” with the idea that in a century from now it will still be impossible to date his works – or even more so. He creates a false archaeology of the future. His work is a journey into time which goes well beyond the present.

For this exhibition, Laurent Grasso deploys video, sculpture, painting, drawing and apparatus to explore four ideas: observation of the heavens, surveillance, “political ghosts” and deceptive beauty.
His work on primitive fears lies behind works such as Les Oiseaux (The Birds, 2008) and Polair (2007). Control and surveillance devices are evoked in the film Untitled (2009), shot near Abu Dhabi, and in The Silent Movie (2010), in which the artist films the military fortifications along the Mediterranean coast near Cartagena. Finally, Grasso is also interested in the way in which power, omnipresent yet invisible, always generates a diffuse sense of fear. This is the theme he explores in the new piece produced by Jeu de Paume for this exhibition, in which architecture, the dispositif and the voice play a dominant role.

Laurent Grasso manipulates the image, often intentionally, by imposing unique and unusual perspectives on his subject. At the heart of his aesthetic sensibility is the idea of a constantly shifting perspective: “The idea is to construct a floating viewpoint, thereby creating a sense of discrepancy with regard to reality. We move from space to another, which is also how we produce states of consciousness.”

> To watch the Laurent Grasso’s video portrait:

Curators: The artist, Marie Fraser and Marta Gili

Exhibition co-produced by Jeu de Paume, Paris
and the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal,
with the support from Compagnie de Phalsbourg.

In partnership with A Nous Paris, L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, L’Officiel Hommes, LCI et FIP.

Jeu de Paume gratefully acknowledges special support from NEUFLIZE VIE, its global partner, for the exhibition “Laurent Grasso: “Uraniborg”.