Joana Vasconcelos — Versailles — Château de Versailles — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: June 19 → September 30, 2012

The palace of Versailles is the place of art par excellence, where artists have always felt at home, displaying their work in it not as an exhibition space but as a setting totally imbued with art. It is a full, complete and rich place where it seems that nothing can be added. It is the ideal setting for celebrating audacity, experimentation and freedom, where creative talent is appreciated like in no other place.

Joana Vasconcelos, Lilicoptère, 2012, 2012 Hélicoptère Bell 47, plumes d’autruches, cristaux Swarovski, feuille d’or, peinture industrielle, intérieurs cuir teint et finement ciselés à l’or fin, tapis de Arraiolos, bois de noyer, peinture imitation bois, passementerie — 300 × 274 × 1265 cm Collection de l’artiste; Courtesy Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris/Bruxelles et Haunch of Venison, Londres Œuvre produite avec la collaboration de la Fundação Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva, Lisbonne

My work has developed around the idea that the world is an opera, and Versailles embodies the operatic and aesthetic ideal that inspires me. The works that I propose exist for this place. I see them as linked to Versailles in a timeless way. When I stroll through the rooms of the Palace and its Gardens, I feel the energy of a setting that gravitates between reality and dreams, the everyday and magic, the festive and the tragic. I can still hear the echo of the footsteps of Marie-Antoinette, and the music and festive ambiance of the stately rooms. How would the life of Versailles look if this exuberant and grandiose universe was transferred to our period?

Interpreting the dense mythology of Versailles, transporting it into the contemporary world, and evoking the presence of the important female figures that have lived here, while drawing on my identity and my experience as a Portuguese woman born in France, will certainly be the most fascinating challenge of my career.