Huang Yong Ping's Apocalyptic Installation at Kamel Mennour

Huang Yong Ping's exhibition 'Bugarach' at Galerie Kamel Mennour in Paris (December 5, 2012 – January 26, 2013) presents a monumental installation riffing on the predicted Mayan apocalypse of December 21, 2012. The artist, born in China in 1954 and based in France since the 1989 'Magiciens de la Terre' exhibition, is known for large-scale allegorical works. 'Bugarach' references the Pyrenean hamlet of Bugarach, a New Age hotspot believed to be a safe haven from the end of the world. The installation occupies three rooms: the first features a siren suspended from the ceiling above an empty space; the second contains headless stuffed animals; the third is a diorama with a replica of the Bugarach rock, a giant flying saucer embedded in it, the severed heads of the animals arranged on the saucer, and a model helicopter hovering above. The work literalizes apocalyptic imagery, drawing comparisons to Lars von Trier's film 'Melancholia' (2011) but criticized for being overly demonstrative. The exhibition includes references to Huang's earlier works: 'Théâtre du monde' (1993), a zoological arena with scorpions and tarantulas removed from a Centre Pompidou show; 'Arche' (2009), a wooden boat with taxidermied animals damaged in a fire; and 'Serpent d'océan' (2012), a 130-meter-long reptile skeleton sculpture on the Loire estuary at Saint-Brévin-les-Pins, echoing the Saint-Nazaire bridge and local fishing huts.