Vieilles coques & jeunes récifs

Athletes, as well as scientists and artists, are all focused on the body, with hopes pinned on its adaptability and resilience at a time of global transition. Science fiction conjures up unlikely mutations and envisages the survival of humanity in the most varied contexts. Bodies that transform, mirroring the way in which athletes can sometimes adapt their metabolism and physiognomy to achieve new feats. The limits and potentials of the body and of what passes through it inform the work of the artists (works from the Frac collection and guest artists) in the exhibition Vieilles coques & jeunes récifs, which is inevitably inhabited by performance.

The works on show at Le Plateau (works from the collection, loans of works and specific productions for the exhibition) have one thing in common: they suggest, explicitly or otherwise, that transformations are taking place. These take the form of exercises and training (Camille Juthier, Taus Makhacheva), experiments and mutations that are sometimes successful and sometimes unsuccessful (Ceylan Östrük), operating in different places, from the micro to the macro, in individual and/or collective bodies that are more or less fictionalised (Jimmy Beauquesne). Advancing or retreating, stretching or curling up (Eglė Budvytytė), it is in this ambiguity and latency that the works that inhabit this space are situated.

Like a reversible bag, or two parts of the same non-linear story, the exhibition can be visited from the Plateau to the Reserves or vice versa, and visitors are invited to take the paths of reading and interpretation they wish, by reading, looking, listening, touching, sitting on what is available — in short, to experience what surrounds them in their own way.

• Alex Ayed, Jimmy Beauquesne, Bruno Botella, Eglė Budvytytė, Garance Früh, Robin Girod, Camille Juthier, Taus Makhacheva, Isadora Neves Marques, Ceylan Öztrük, Clara Pacotte, Hatice Pinarbaşi, Ketty Steward & L.M. Cantori, Zin Taylor et Laure Vigna.