The Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris invites visitors to revisit the history of modernity in the 20th century through the lens of the atom. The exhibition invites the public to explore artistic representations inspired by the scientific discovery of the atom and its applications, particularly the nuclear bomb, whose devastating consequences changed the destiny of humanity. Bringing together nearly 250 works (paintings, drawings, photographs, videos and installations), as well as often unpublished documentation, the exhibition shows, for the first time in a French institution, the very different positions taken by artists in response to scientific advances and the controversies they raise. Dealing with a subject that is more relevant than ever, it is part of the museum’s desire to reflect contemporary cultural and societal concerns in its programming.
Fukushima 1, 3, 5
The drawings are guided by mental images as much as reference images taken from the media. The faceless bodies and identities of the men and women who saved us haunted the canvas long after the events. A silent, invisible and anonymous mass, they represented the only possible images of redemption, highlighting the paradox that care, rendered anonymous, is almost inhuman. These images then spread from crisis to crisis: that of the Corona virus in particular, then those of the wars, in the rubble of Kiev, Kibbutz Re’im or the ruins of Gaza. Without transition, the drawings have been continuously fed with these images, the ghosts have invaded our daily lives, and the series, which began in 2013, has continued for more than ten years, like a filter of time that has irradiated our lives.
Curators
- Julia Garimorth, Chief Curator at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris
- Maria Stavrinaki, Professor of Contemporary Art History, University of Lausanne
Scientific advisor
- Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou, Lecturer and Researcher in Art History and Environmental Humanities
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Assisted by Sylvie Moreau-Soteras, Research and Documentation Officer at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris
