BIENNALS:13th Biennale de Lyon

The 13th Lyon Biennale titled “La vie modern”, brings together 60 artists from 28 countries, who explore the contradictory character of contemporary art in various regions of the world, from aesthetics and philosophy to social formations, subjectivity, and technology. Their work addresses the ways in which multifarious legacies of the “Modern” era continue to shape our perceptions, and the issues of everyday life.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Biennale de Lyon Archive

The title of the 13th Biennale de Lyon has an ironic dimension, part because the word “modern” has come to seem anachronistic. The notion of “The modern world” is now something like a period piece, a historical relic from another era. As the curator of the Biennale, Thierry Raspail said “Thirty years ago, in the mid-1980s, the idea of Modern was declared old hat, finished. It was dropped because people were convinced that they were entering the Post-modern age – the end of political blocs and antagonisms, the end of history and the end of “grand narratives”. This unified world was probably going to be better”. Four exhibitions are the core of the Biennale: “La vie modern”, is an exhibition aimed at undermining our concepts of the “Contemporary”, the works explore images of the present as a kind of palimpsest layered with traces of earlier times, other works move from the current day scenarios to historical references. Is an exhibition that invites the visitors to reflect on changing social and cultural landscapes that characterize modern life in the world, some works explore issues regularly covered in the daily news media and others explore less topical areas that are no less characteristic of our present moment. “Ce fabuleux monde modern”, presents works from mac-Lyon collection. Every two years, the museum hosts the Biennale whose artistic director, since its creation, has been Thierry Raspail, also Director of the Museum, also every two years the mac-Lyon organizes an exceptional monographic exhibition and devotes all its exhibition areas, as it does for the Biennale, to the work of one artist. “Rendez-vous 15”, is an international platform dedicated to young artist, it allows 20 artists to benefit from a first important exhibition in a renowned institution. The collegiate direction of the exhibition and its curatorship, which is open to ten international Biennales, make this a unique project in Europe. For seven years now, the Dominicans, who live in the Couvent de LaTourette, which Le Corbusier built for them in the ‘50s, have been holding exhibitions of contemporary art. These exhibitions are conceived as encounters between a visual artist’s work and the architecture of Le Corbusier. “Anish Kapoor chez Le Corbusier” presents a monographic exhibition of the artist, dialoging with the modernist architecture of the monastery. He was inspired by the Modulor, designed by Le Corbusier according to the proportions of the human body.

 

Info: 13th Biennale de Lyon, “La vie moderne”, Curator: Thierry Raspail, Places: La Sucrière, Les Docks, 47-49 quai Rambaud, macLYON, Cité Internationale, 81 quai Charles de Gaulle, Musée des Confluences, 86 Quai Perrache, Lyon Duration: 10/9/15-3/1/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri: 11:00-18:00, Sat-Sun: 11:00-19:00, (25/15/15 & 1/1/16 Closed) & Couvent de La Tourette, Éveux, Lyon, Duration: 10/9/15-3/1/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun: 14:00-18:30, www.labiennaledelyon.com