Exhibition

Laure Prouvost. Above Front Tears Oui Float

The Laure Prouvost exhibition in the Light Hall treats us to an experience both magical and unsettling.

  • 5 November 2022–12 February 2023
  • The National Museum – The Light Hall

Out of the tunnel’s darkness, we enter a barren rocky landscape blanketed in fog. We find ourselves in a place above the clouds. where birds soar. A melted ceiling offers a glimpse into the unknown. Global warming has left its mark, but hope can be found in consideration and love of nature and people.

Laure Prouvost is known for her captivating installations with film, sound, performance, sculpture, textile and text that trigger the senses. In her work, the line between fiction and reality is erased. She incorporates characteristics of Dadaism and Surrealism, allowing for lawlessness and the irrational. Prouvost’s art also makes reference to art-historical and religious motifs, such as the fountains of antiquity, archetypal grottos, birds and fish.

Laure Prouvost has taken full advantage of the mighty size of the Light Hall and created a world of contrasts. She appeals to our senses and emotions with gravity, light and colour, and toys with our sense of direction. Pulsating light, sparkling imaginative glass sculptures and fountains bring light, colour and life to a threatened world.

"Laure Prouvost. Above Front Tears Oui Float" © Laure Prouvost/BONO, 2022. Courtesy of the artist
Photo: Nasjonalmuseet / Annar Bjørgli

Sculptures weightlessly float in the space, making us feel like we have entered another dimension. In one area, the floor rises, while in another, it lowers us into a soft surface. In Prouvost’s monumental video works, we encounter the recurring figure of Grand Ma, who launches herself into grand flight.

The exhibition takes nature, environmental challenges and the pandemic seriously, but communicates with warmth and absurd humour.

The Fredriksen Commisions

Laure Prouvost is the first artist to develop a site-specific solo exhibition in the Light Hall as part of The Fredriksen Commissions.

Prouvost won the MaxMara Art Prize for Women in 2011 and was awarded the prestigious Turner Prize in 2013. She represented France and the Venice Biennale in 2019.

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Made by:

Artist: Laure Prouvost Studio Prouvost headed by Maud Gyssels Exhibition architecture: Diogo Passarinho Studio Production company: Arter Lighting design: Light Bureau Advisor exhibition opening: Martha Kirszenbaum

Curator exhibition: Eva Klerck Gange Curator education: Anna Carin Hedberg and Mariken Kramer  Project manager: Marthe Tveitan og Kristin Welhaven Næss Project manager technical production: Klaus Kottmann and Rune Andreassen

 

Laure Prouvost, #Untitled (Floating tapestry)", 2022 © Laure Prouvost/BONO, courtesy the artist