Empire
The installation Empire belongs to the eponymous series initiated in 2019 following the purchase of an Empire porcelain dinner service inspired by Napoleon’s coronation and produced by the Danish manufacturer Bing & Grøndahl (now Royal Copenhagen) in 1904. In this work, plates and cups are carefully stacked inside a black cage, the porcelain tower evoking an exotic bird in captivity. Porcelain, a major art form in China since the fourteenth century, became a prized export product for the European aristocracy; here, its history sheds light on the circulation of symbols of prestige and their reinvention in a Western context. Beier presents Danish porcelain as a fragile structure, always on the verge of collapse. Two saucers fixed to the top of the cage provide a different reading, evoking the banality of crockery drying on a dish rack.
Text written by Alessia Damioli as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.
Exhibitions
CAPC musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (France)
from 08 Mar to 09 Sep 2024
Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhague (Danemark)
from 28 Aug to 30 Aug 2020
Croy Nielsen, Vienne (Autriche)
from 15 Nov to 20 Dec 2019