designboom · Creativity & design

Barbara Kruger Transforms Bourse de Commerce Rotunda

American artist Barbara Kruger's installation 'The History of Tears' fills the Bourse de Commerce rotunda in Paris. It opens the Pinault Collection's 'Remember Me' exhibition, marking two hundred years of photography.

Kruger's work covers the rotunda's walls and floor with text, extending into 24 display cases. A quote from Aimé Césaire urges viewers to avoid being mere spectators.

The exhibition 'Remember Me' is named after Kruger's 1988 work and features around 700 photographs by over 80 artists.

The installation includes large text ellipses in French and English, with phrases like 'until you, the observer, disappear' and 'come closer.'

Text on the walls addresses themes of love, desire, shame, and ownership. A quote from Orwell's '1984' is printed on the floor, unreadable from within the room.

Kruger describes the work as a 'deluge of the eyes,' encompassing loss, fear, power, and desire, reflecting struggles between the powerful and disempowered.

The exhibition is arranged thematically, not chronologically, and includes a section dedicated to Irving Penn and Raymond Depardon's work.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.