exhibition

Complexe sportif. (en)jeu de courbes et courbatures is a group show featuring the works of thirteen artists: Emmanuelle Becquemin & Stéphanie Sagot, Daniel Dewar & Grégory Gicquel, Pierre Marie Lejeune, Denis Macrez, Alix Marie, Abraham Poincheval, Agnieszka Polska, Philippe Ramette, Dominik Ritszel, Sarah Roshem, Maryline Terrier. It will be held from 25th May 2024 to 27th October at the Departmental Domain of Chamarande in France.

The exhibition offers an art journey that focuses on the body in movement, the sporting body. 

The body is a mirror of the world just as sport can also be a reflection of a society in motion. The understanding of sport has evolved over the centuries. The invited artists go beyond the simple representation of the body. Sport is a pretext for studying the mechanisms that govern society, cultural codes or gender identity. The works presented revolve around two axes: sport as a unifying therapeutic tool and as an aesthetic experience of the body.

Sport unites through direct experience, participation in the game and interactions between athletes. But also, through the indirect experience of the spectator who experiences the competition emotionally by showing solidarity with the players. Participation awakens the desire to win together, to agree. The individual is merged into the group which gives him strength which can be ecstatic.

On the one hand, the proposed works speak of collective experience, because sport can be a metaphor for interactions between humans. They explore the role of the body in social practices by providing an experience of dialogue and connection.

On the other hand, they address the question of the intimate experience of the body, by highlighting the evolution of our relationship to its representation influenced by social media. The promotion of perfect bodies and retouched photos have modified this relationship by glorifying the athletic body, the body in action and surpassing oneself. The notions of strength, virility or femininity are called into question.

The exhibition is an invitation to explore our relationship with the body and physical activity. The spectator’s body is itself set in motion during the exhibition. The works represent and reinterpret bodies in action. They dialogue with the viewer through their scale, but also reflect and refer to the landscape that surrounds them to signify the importance of our relationship to spatiality and the environment in which we live.

This exhibition is part of the Cultural Olympiad, the cultural program initiated by the Organizing Committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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