EXHIBITION by Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Les Nébuleuses: MON TOUT: Les étourdissements

Patrick van Caeckenbergh, Les Nébuleuses: MON TOUT: Les étourdissements

Exhibition in the Musée Gassendi from 18 June to 31 December 2016

Preview on Friday 17 June at 18:00

Les Nébuleuses: DANSE, for the Fête de la Musique [Music Day & Night] at 21:30, on the museum patio

Tour – Workshop Sunday 4 December & Wednesday 21 December by advance booking

 

 

Les Nébuleuses. Mon tout: Les étourdissements was conceived by Patrick Van Caeckenbergh as an “œuvre valise” [suitcase work]. It is presented in the landscapes room of the Musée Gassendi, which is fitted out specially for the purpose. A book of the same title has been published for the occasion. To his cosmogony, he added a 21st illustration which describes the “waltz of the planets” – a form of homage to the astronomer Pierre Gassendi.

For the presentation of Les Nébuleuses in Digne, the artist wanted it to take place in a museum, basing himself on a traditional celebration in his village, called “Les tournesols” [The sunflowers]. To do so, he designed a dance floor featuring a large sun whose rays point to twelve phases of the earth turning around the sun.

Around this dance floor are installed the twenty illustrations from the artist’s personal encyclopaedia, the whole of which form the work. Twelve couples of waltzers from Digne brought this dance to life, thanks to Elsa Fournier, who played her own original composition on the accordion. This moment was captured in Jean-Baptiste Warluzel’s film, which brings it to life again and is an integral part of the work, involving visitors who waltz in turn on the dance floor.

Like the encyclopaedias of the classical world, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh’s is a whole world that links together the infinitely large and the infinitely small, a moving world on the border between the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, full of many more black holes than certainties, in which is expressed the ideal of a thought that is the expression of life and which could be free like the fable and the voyage. A world between science and art which meets that of the Musée Gassendi and of the local folk culture.

With the exhibition opening at the summer solstice, this lover of myths and metaphors sees the opportunity to invite the people of Digne to take part in a “joyful moment”, Les Nébuleuses: La danse. In the glow of coloured party lights, twelve couples of volunteer dancers from Digne accompanied by an accordionist performed the waltz of the planets, of which the film is shown in the exhibition, and in which the public were invited take part on 21 June on the forecourt of the museum as part of the Fête de la Musique [France’s national music day].

Another important partner in the project the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts art school in Nîmes with which the Musée Gassendi has a partnership agreement since this year. To guide the visitor in this abundant artistic world, students at the Partage des Mondes seminar directed by their teacher Natacha Pugnet produced a brochure and a film (which can be viewed in the museum until 7 July) entitled “Patrick, Le conteur” [Patrick, the storyteller].

To extend this discovery, the museum bookshop is selling the book Le Pantologue – Les Nébuleuses, published on the occasion of the exhibition by Editions Fage.

Download the press release concerning the exhibition: CP EXPO Patrick Van Caeckenbergh Musee Gassendi-web

Associated events:

Launch of the book Les Nébuleuses, published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same title by Fage Editions took place on 21 May in Maison Rouge, Paris, attended by the artist Patrick Van Caeckenbergh and the author Natacha Pugnet (a 32 x 45 x 6 cm folder containing all 21 illustrations – a limited edition in 1,000 copies, produced with the support of CNAP, retail price: €55)

Preview of the exhibition, 17 June at 18:00 in the Musée Gassendi attended by the artist – free admission

Les Nébuleuses. Mon tout: la danse, 21 June at 21:30, on the patio of the Musée Gassendi with the volunteer dancers and the accordionist – free admission

Tour + workshop for families, open to all by advance booking:

Sunday 4 December at 14:00, free of charge on the first Sunday of the month; at 16:00, tour open to all, free of charge, & Wednesday 21 December at 14:00, free up to 21 years old, €4 full price / €2 concession rate

Tour of the exhibition guided by an outreach officer, for parties of adults and schoolchildren by advance booking: contact the Visitor Department.