Jiang Qiong Er's Mythical Creatures Invade Narbo Via's Roman Collections

At Narbo Via museum in Narbonne, Chinese artist Jiang Qiong Er presents 'Le Souffle du Temps', a contemporary art intervention running from May 19, 2026 to January 3, 2027. The exhibition places twelve mythical figures made of mineral pigments among the museum's Roman lapidary collection, including 760 stone blocks from ancient Narbo Martius. The works, titled 'XII Appels' (2025), draw from Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and Maya cultures and embody universal values like Liberty, Nature, Inclusion, Bravery, and Peace. An installation of 76 bronze tiles inscribed with words for time in Latin, French, and Chinese greets visitors at the entrance. The artist also created a new visual language called 'new nüshu', combining four Chinese writing systems with AI, which appears on works like the 'Sa Voix – La Bravoure' series using encaustic painting. The exhibition features sensory elements: AD VITAM designed a specific olfactory identity with essential oil diffusers, and hourly, a robotic arm retrieves a stone block for an interactive display where the mythical creatures animate to music. Jiang Qiong Er's works also include 'Les Anges des Grottes' paintings using prehistoric mineral pigment techniques, and two large felt pieces, 'Via Mundus I' and 'Via Mundus II', in the museum's atrium. The museum building itself was designed by Foster + Partners and Studio Adrien Gardère.