Anne et Patrick Poirier's 'Odyssée de l'oubli' at Musée d'Arts de Nantes

The Musée d'Arts de Nantes presents 'Anne et Patrick Poirier. Odyssée de l'oubli', an exhibition of contemporary vanities by the artist duo. The show features ruins, utopian architectures, and remnants of a war-threatened world, highlighting the fragility of human constructions. A double self-portrait referencing Janus introduces 'La Cité des ombres' (2026), a white ceramic city surrounded by feathers inspired by Anne's dream from January 2022, dedicated to their late son Alain-Guillaume. Three display cases illuminate their biography: Anne born in Marseille, Patrick in Nantes, and their stay at Villa Medici in 1968. A photograph of the museum's atrium used as a mortuary chapel in 1943, where Patrick's father died, is accompanied by a violin piece by Éric Tanguy performed by Júlia Pusker. Side tables with white ruins evoke Greco-Roman sites in Italy, Syria, and Iraq, recalling the 'Domus Aurea' maquettes from the 1980s. The 'Ruines d'Égypte' (1978) centerpiece from Sèvres and broken glass compositions underscore civilizational fragility. In the dark chapel, 'L'Incendie de la grande bibliothèque' (1976) and 'Danger Zone' (2026) confront neoclassical architecture with today's world, accompanied by Alain-Guillaume's music. 'Mnemosyne' (1992), a wooden brain-shaped structure housing monuments, serves as a contemporary allegory of memory.