A collective exhibition from the collection of Francois Pinault at the Paris Bourse de commerce.
First – a fairy tale. An angel came to the Scythian’s house Babuka and said: “The madness and lawlessness of the Persians have crossed all boundaries. Go, see what is there, and decide whether to save Persepolis or destroy it.” On his way, Babuka met soldiers who did not know what they were fighting for; he met commanders who were only interested in money; he met generals who did not believe that all this was for the good, but continued to fight. He saw the lawlessness and cruelty of people: both Persians and Indians, the war turned them into savages. And then peace was concluded. No one won. The dead lay in the ground, monarchs returned to their palaces. This philosophical tale by Voltaire “The World as It Is” gave the exhibition at Bource de Commerce its name and storyline.
The curators and consultants of 87-year-old Francois Pinault are experienced storytellers. While Voltaire had the vision of Babuka, at the Stock Exchange, curator Jean-Marie Galle offers to look at the world through the eyes of one of the most influential collectors, the founder of the luxury giant Kering (brands Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Boucheron, Alexander McQueen) and owner of Christie’s. He has been building his collection for half a century, and in recent years, he has devoted himself exclusively to it, as the business has been passed on to his heirs. With the arrival of general director Emma Lavin at Bource de Commerce three years ago, the exhibitions (everything we see in Paris and Venice is part of Pinault’s collection, which includes more than 10,000 works) are increasingly devoted to the perspective and choices of the collector himself.
“The World as It Is” is a new batch of concentrated essence – 30 artists and about 80 works (painting, sculpture, video, installations). Extracted from the curatorial vision, they can simply be viewed as highlights of the contemporary art scene. Jeff Koons’ inflated puppy, Damien Hirst’s pill cabinet, Maurizio Cattelan’s human sculptures, Bertrand Lavier’s Ferrari, Sigmar Polke’s creepy circus… All have been exhibited before. But this is where curators come in, to highlight, as it is now customary to say, the perspective of the collector. Francois Pinault buys art that touches on sensitive issues, reveals the wounds of the modern world, and makes us think about them. Some artists do this in a poetic form, others sharply, and others with humor. In this “World,” authors of two generations coexist: some of the works shown are from the 1980s-1990s, the second part is from after 2010. Both then and now – deaths, destruction, wars, diseases. The vacuum cleaners by Koons and the sink by Robert Gober in one room take us back to the 1980s when people thought washing hands or getting rid of dust was enough protection against AIDS. Nearby, the 1990s, where Lavier’s Ferrari speeds full throttle into the wall of consumerism and luxury, and opposite is our time – Anna Imhof’s clubs of explosive dust and smoke, which either require or do not require 3D glasses to see the impending catastrophe.
The exhibition is epigraphed by the huge canvas “One Thousand and One Nights” (2022) by Muhammed Sami, welcoming visitors at the entrance. In 2003, the artist fled from Iraq to Sweden, and from there to London. Twenty years have passed, but the flashes of explosions in the peaceful night sky are still vivid. To see them or stars, as if taken from Van Gogh’s paintings, is the viewer’s choice. This duality of perspective and interpretation is embedded in each work of the exhibition, and the artists, along with the collector, seem to echo Voltaire’s Babuka: “Inexplicable people! How can one unite in oneself so much meanness and greatness, so many virtues and crimes!”
The exhibition is concluded with the installation “Breathe – a constellation” by South Korean artist Kim Suji. Curators gave her carte blanche and a central place in the rotunda. She covered the floor with mirrors reflecting the majestic dome of the Stock Exchange. A simple trick nevertheless gives a physical sensation of the upside-down world to which the exhibition is dedicated. And what about Voltaire’s Babuka? He returned to the angel and said that the world, of course, is not very good, the Persians are savages, the Indians are no better, but we have no other world.