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Home>Exhibitions & Events>Exhibitions>Contemporary art – Jean-Philippe Toussaint – Livre / Louvre

Acknowledgments:
In partnership with DRAWING NOW PARIS/ LE PARCOURS

The exhibition created by Jean-Philippe Toussaint combines the artist’s photographs, videos, installation art, and performance pieces to “convey books without using writing.”

Through this exhibition, Jean-Philippe Toussaint contemplates reading, the passage of time, and  literature. Among other subjects, he deals with the notions of libraries and collections, with a particular focus on the Edmond de Rothschild Collection in the Louvre’s Department of Prints and Drawings. Toussaint also trains his gaze on intellectual activity through an installation combining drawings by Le Brun with a performance piece involving a glass stall that is the scene of an experiment.

In addition, the artist has produced two large photographic compositions specifically for the exhibition. The first, entitled Tuesday at the Louvre, sheds fresh light on the life of the museum on the day of the week when it is closed to the public, while the second is a group portrait of contemporary writers freely inspired by Fantin-Latour’s Homage to Delacroix. Similarly, the eternity of the written word and the ephemeral nature of reading are brought into dialogue through the exceptional juxtaposition of the original manuscript of Beckett’s En attendant Godot, together with the eighth edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy, both presented alongside nine electronic tablets  displaying translations of Dante’s opus in different languages.

 

Organized by:

Pascal Torres, Musée du Louvre, Department of Prints and Drawings

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Practical information

From March 8 to June 11, 2012

Location:
Sully wing, 2nd floor, rooms 20-23

Opening hours:
Open everyday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., except Tuesday.
Night opening until 9:45 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Admission:
Included in the museum ticket: €10

Further information:
+33 (0)1 40 20 53 17