Talk

Marguerite Humeau

Wednesday 11 Dec 2019 from 6:30pm to 8pm

Free admission

Rencontre avec Marguerite Humeau

On the occasion of the exhibition "You, works from the Lafayette Anticipations Collection", at the Musée d'art moderne de Paris and her nomination for the Marcel Duchamp Prize, encounter with the artist Marguerite Humeau.
Moderator: Alexandra Midal, Professor at HEAD, Geneva

Humeau’s work stages the crossing of great distances in time and space, transitions between animal and mineral, and encounters between personal desires and natural forces. The work explores the possibility of communication between worlds and the means by which knowledge is generated in the absence of evidence or through the impossibility of reaching the object of investigation.
Humeau weaves factual events into speculative narratives, therefore enabling unknown, invisible, extinct forms of life to erupt in grandiose splendour. Combining prehistory, occult biology and science fiction in a disconcerting spectacle – the works resuscitate the past, conflate subterranean and subcutaneous, all the while updating the quest genre for the information age.
Exhibition You in the Musée d'art Moderne de Paris
Vue de Exhibition High Tide, Prix Marcel Duchamp, Centre Pompidou, 2019
Ranging from prehistory to imagined future worlds, Marguerite Humeau spans great distances in space and time in her pursuit of the mysteries of human existence.

Marguerite Humeau breathes life into lost things, whether they be lifeforms that have become extinct or ideas that have disappeared from our mental landscapes. Filling gaps in knowledge with speculation and imagined scenarios, her aim is to create new mythologies for our contemporary era.

She received her MA from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2011.

Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris (2021); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2020); Kunstverein Hamburg (2019); Museion, Bolzano (2019); New Museum, New York (2018); Tate Britain, London (2017); Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich (2017); Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2017); Nottingham Contemporary (2016); and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2016).

Humeau’s work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including Lafayette Anticipations (2024); Kunsthalle Basel (2021); the Istanbul Biennial (2019); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019); MAMVP, Paris (2019); the High Line, New York (2017); Château de Versailles, France (2017); Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2017); FRAC Midi- Pyrénées, Toulouse, France (2017); Serpentine Galleries, London (2014); and Victoria and Albert Museum, Sculpture Gallery, London (2014).

Alexandra Midal est à la fois commissaire d'expositions et chercheuse. Professeure à la HEAD à Genève (CH) et à l'Ensci, Paris (FR), elle est l'ancienne directrice du Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain de Haute-Normandie et de la Design Project Room à la HEAD-Genève (Marguerite Humeau, Carlo Mollino, Auger-Loizeau, Superstudio, Noam Toran,...).
Alexandra Midal a été commissaire des expositions "Tomorrow Now : When Design Meets Science Fiction" (MUDAM, Luxembourg, 2007) ; "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité"(Wolfsonian FIU, Miami, 2012) ; "Eames & Hollywood" (ADAM, Bruxelles, 2016) ; "Popcorn : Art, design et cinéma " (MAMC, Saint-Étienne, 2017). En collaboration avec des artistes, des chercheurs et des conservateurs, elle a développé une plateforme de partage d'idées intitulée Abecedarium : Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris), MoMA (New York), Perez Art Museum (Miami), 4ème Biennale Istanbul Design,... Depuis 2009, elle pose un regard critique sur l'histoire des idées dans un projet novateur de théorie visuelle qui se décline en essais (première exposition personnelle : "Drive-in", CAPC, Bordeaux, 2018-2019) et en tant que directrice du "Invisible Film Festival" (New York, Genève, Istanbul, Londres). Ses essais sont publiés dans des revues et des catalogues : MoMA, MOCA, MNAM Centre Pompidou, Art Institute of Chicago, Walker Art Center et autres ainsi que des livres : "Antidesign, petite histoire de la capsule d'habitation en images" (2003), "Design. Introduction à l'histoire d'une discipline " (2009), " Politique-Fiction " (2012), " Design, L'Anthologie " (2012), " Eames & Hollywood " (2016), " La Manufacture du meurtre " (Zones/Éditions La Découverte (2018), (The factory of Murder tbp by Sternberg Press). Son dernier livre "Design by Accident : for a New History of Design" vient de paraître (Sternberg Press).