Inside

At Palais de Tokyo, “Inside” is an odyssey, both physical and psychological, that offers visitors a passage to the interior of the self, for which the exhibition space serves as a metaphor.

“Inside” gives the visitor a unique experience, a risky voyage through oneself in which the exhibition space is the subject of the metaphor.

This odyssey – as much physical as it is mental – is an invitation to walk through the Palais de Tokyo, metamorphosed by the artists in such a way that, from one installation to the next, from one floor to another, we find ourselves inside the works. These works, some of which were created specifically for the exhibition, bring us close to the very core of our being, from our experience of the space to our most secret thoughts and fears.

Top: Andro Wekua, Untitled, 2011. © Andro Wekua. Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York – Bruxelles. Above: Yuri Ancarani, Da Vinci, 2012. Courtesy Yuri Ancarani and ZERO gallery, Milan

Similarly to darkrooms, the inner world is an ideal place for the appearance of images: from cave paintings and origin myths to discovering a subject’s interiority, from the inner turmoil of melancholy to the vast territory of the unconscious. For the Surrealists, it meant accessing the power of dreams; for Bataille, it was an ecstatic search for the most extreme states of thought. “Inside” also creates the possibility of plunging into the psyche of certain artists whose featured works are like so many mental projections that push the visitor to confront his or her own interiority.

This long tour through the exhibition is an opportunity of experiencing the building – transformed into an organism to be explored – in the manner of a journey, from physical to mental, from psychological to spiritual, according to the archetype of the initiatory journey. All of the works create an experience at once sensorial and emotional. “Inside” calls on all the emotions that make our humanity: joy, worry, fear, horror, desire, pleasure… A deep, troubling and unexpected experience.

Sookoon Ang, <i>Exorcise Me</i>, Singapore Biennale, 2013. Courtesy the artist
Marcius Galan, <i>Three Sections</i>, 2010. View of the exhibition at the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami. Collection CIFO – Cisneros Fontanals Miami. Photo: Marcius Galan
Ryan Gander, <i>I is…(ii)</i>, 2012. ©Ryan Gander. Courtesy the artist and the Lisson Gallery, London. Photo: Ken Adlard
Numen, <i>Tape Melbourne</i>. Photo : Numen
Marc Couturier, <i>Troisième jour (Wall Drawing)</i>, 2012, graphite Temporary installation at the Hunting and Nature Museum during the exhibition "Marc Couturier, Le Troisième jour" (22 May- 2 September 2012) © Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris / courtesy Marc Couturier / Photo : Sylvie Durand
Peter Buggenhout, <i>The Blind Leading the Blind</i>, 2014. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Laurent Godin, Konrad Fischer Galerie © Aurélien Mole
Nathalie Djurberg, <i>Deceiving Looks</i>, 2011. Clay animation, video, music by Hans Berg, 6:08 min. Ed.: 4, II Courtesy: the artist; Giò Marconi, Milan
Manders Mark, <i>Room with Unfired Clay Figure</i>, 2014. Photo: Peter Cox. Courtesy Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp
Mike Nelson, <i>Studio Apparatus for Camden Arts Centre - An Introductory Structure: Introduction; a lexicon of phenomena and information association; futurobjectics (in three sections); mysterious island*</i>, or <i>Temporary Monument</i>, 1998/2010. Installation view, Camden Arts Centre, London, 2010 Photo: Mike Nelson
Abraham Poincheval, <i>Dans la peau de l’Ours</i>, 2014. Digital video, 4x 24h Production: Musée de la chasse et de la nature Courtesy Semiose galerie, Paris
Ataru Sato, <i>Untitled</i>, 2014
Stéphane Thidet, <i>Untilted (Le Refuge)</i>, 2007. © Stéphane Thidet


from October 20, 2014 until January 11, 2015
Inside
curated by Jean de Loisy, Daria de Beauvais, Katell Jaffrès
Palais de Tokyo
13 Avenue du Président Wilson, Paris

Artists: Jean-Michel Alberola, Dove Allouche, Yuri Ancarani, Sookoon Ang, Christophe Berdaguer & Marie Pejus, Christian Boltanski, Peter Buggenhout, Marc Couturier, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Dran, Valia Fetisov , Marcius Galan, Ryan Gander, Ion Grigorescu, Hu Xiaoyuan, Eva Jospin, Jesper Just, Mikhail Karikis & Uriel Orlow, Mark Manders, Bruce Nauman, Mike Nelson, Numen/For Use, Abraham Poincheval, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Reynold Reynolds & Patrick Jolley,Ataru Sato, Stéphane Thidet, Tunga, Andra Ursuta, Andro Wekua, Artur Zmijewski