Camille Henrot: Days are Dogs

This autumn, Palais de Tokyo is giving its entire exhibition space to Camille Henrot (born in Paris in 1978, lives in New York) for the third installment of its series of carte blanche exhibitions, which began in 2013 with Philippe Parreno and continued in 2016 with Tino Sehgal.

The carte blanche offered to Henrot—winner of the Silver Lion at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013) as well as the Nam June Paik Award (2014) and the Edward Munch Award (2015)—will be an occasion to discover the ever-expanding fields of inquiry that influence her idiosyncratic sculptures, drawings, films and installations.

The exhibition explores the ways in which the invention of the seven day week structures our relationship to time. It reveals the way the notion of the week reassures us—giving us routines and a common framework—just as much as it alienates us, creating a set of constraints and dependencies.

Titled Days are Dogs, the exhibition will be divided into seven thematic parts, each dedicated to a day of the week. Viewers will experience works that reflect the emotions and activities associated with each day as they move from day to day. Using this structure to organize her exhibition, Henrot emphasizes the impact of the dependencies, frustrations, and desires that emerge while living through the rhythm of the week. The exhibition explores ideas such as submission and revolt, both on a personal level—the dynamic of sexual relationships, for instance—and on a social level, where sociopolitical, economic and ideological power is at play.

For her carte blanche, Camille Henrot brings together an extensive group of her own works along with contributions from international artists. The invited artists are Jacob Bromberg (b.1983, Chicago), David Horvitz (b. 1983, Los Angeles), Maria Loboda (b. 1979, Krakow), Nancy Lupo (b. 1983, Flagstaff, California), Samara Scott (b. 1985, London), and Avery Singer (b. 1987, New York).

Demonstrating the remarkable range of her artistic practice, Henrot presents drawings, interphones, frescoes, and bronzes along with new works including her film, Saturday. The carte blanche also includes recent works exhibited in solo shows at the Fondazione Memmo (Rome, 2016) and Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna, 2017) as well as in the 9th Berlin Biennale (2016) and the 55th Venice Biennale (2013). The exhibition is the first large-scale solo show of Henrot in France.

Curator: Daria de Beauvais

And also, this autumn:

Off-site exhibition

Singing Stones at The Roundhouse, in Chicago
September 13–October 29, 2017

An exhibition presented as part of the off-site programme of Palais de Tokyo / Institut français with the support of Fonds de dotation Emerige. In partnership with EXPO CHICAGO, alongside The Chicago Architecture Biennial, in collaboration with the DuSable Museum of African American History, Mana Contemporary Chicago, the Graham Foundation, and The Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

Curator: Katell Jaffrès