Daniel Firman's 'La Matière Grise' at Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon

From May 25 to July 21, 2013, the Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon hosted Daniel Firman's first major museum exhibition, 'La Matière Grise'. The show, curated by the artist himself like a musical score, juxtaposed historical works with new creations. It explored sculpture through unconventional methods—performances like spinning around a potter's wheel ('Je tourne autour de la terre') or hanging from a chandelier ('up down'). Works included a washing machine spinning on its own ('Rotomatic'), dancers heard but unseen ('Géographie Lyon'), a gravity-defying elephant ('Nasutamanus'), and a guitar spinning at high speed ('Drone Project'). The title refers both to kneading clay and to art as sophisticated thought, with an undercurrent of violence and catastrophe.