What effect does exile have on creation? Does it render it impossible, or make it different and distinctive?
EXILES. Artist perspectives explores the links between creation and the feeling of exile. Exile is commonly understood as a forced departure from one’s home country, for political, economic, health or climatic reasons. Be it punishment or an act of survival, exile is at once an individual and a collective experience which this exhibition seeks to place in the context of a long and varied history. Based on the great founding narratives, the project draws on a number of disciplines. It focuses on the ways in which artistic expression reveals and illustrates the human experience of exile; it is a journey through time and space but has a particular focus on contemporary art too.
The artists presented in this exhibition do not view exile from a distance. From Homer to Ovide, Jacques Louis David, Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Victor Hugo, Gustave Courbet, Marc Chagall, Nil Yalter, Kimsooja, Yan Pei-Ming, Joana Hadjithomas et Khalil Joreige, Barthélémy Toguo or Marco Godinho, they examine concepts of departure, displacement, the complex nature of arriving somewhere and being uprooted, but they also consider the pivotal importance of meeting others and the notion of welcome. What brings us together and what drives us apart in exile? A collection of objects and stories from partner organisations in the surrounding coalfield area is part of the exhibition’s journey. These bear witness to the history of the Hauts-de-France region.
Featuring more than 200 works, this exhibition is conceived as an immersive experience, highlighting artistic, pictorial, literary, poetic and philosophical creation, building bridges too between ancient art and contemporary creativity.
Curator : Dominique de Font-Réaulx, general curator, project manager for the President-director of the musée du Louvre
Exhibition Design : Maciej Fiszer
Press release from Louvre-Lens
Image: Youssef Nabil. Say Goodbye, self-portrait, Alexandria. 2009. Photographic print. Image courtesy of the Pinault Collection © Youssef Nabil
