Purple Art
[May 2 2016]
“Double Je” a group exhibition inspired by a short crime story by writer Franck Thilliez at Palais de Tokyo, Paris
Starting from the pre-textual postulate that an artisan of art, an artist… and a criminal have the same obsessive fascination for details, the show dives into the daily, private existences of the professions of art, while at the same time telling a detective story, plotted by Franck Thilliez.
As opposed to traditional scenography, the staging of the exhibition will display both the studios and living spaces of two artisans of art, as well as a crime scene. The context of this scene is cutting-edge artisanship, close to new technologies. In this setting, each object on show is a work of art or design, while also being a clue leading the visitors to piece together the crime scenario in an attempt to solve the mystery.
The pieces, objects and furnishings it contains include a large number of commissioned works produced in collaboration with artists and artisans of art, for example a motorbike decked out by a feather-worker, photographs decorated by an embroiderer, a wooden screen sculpted and painted by an artist, ceramic vases generated by the sound of voices, a damask-steel dagger whose handle has been moulded from snake’s vertebra…
This project is not only ground-breaking formally, but also in its conception and means of diffusion. Having been conceived from the start as an original exploration of the dialogue between art and the artisans of art, based on the popular theme of crime writing, it is being embodied as both an exhibition and a short story.
On view until May 16th, 2016, at Palais de Tokyo, 13 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris.
Text Palais de Tokyo and photo Inès Manai
