Latifa Echakhch's 'Le jardin mécanique' at Villa Sauber

Latifa Echakhch transforms Villa Sauber in Monaco into an immersive installation titled 'Le jardin mécanique,' open from April 20 to October 28, 2018, before the villa's renovation closure. The exhibition explores nostalgia, decor, and the history of Monaco through video, painted stage sets, and automated mechanical figures. Echakhch draws on romantic landscape traditions and references local landmarks like the Opéra Garnier, Casino, and Jardin Exotique. The installation culminates in a panoramic painting series based on vintage postcards of the Jardin Exotique, executed with concrete and acrylic on canvas, evoking restored frescoes with missing fragments. The work questions representation, blending disciplines without hierarchy, and gives equal weight to backstage and stage. Dark atmospheres and video monitors in each room revive historical automata, creating a ghostly ambiance. The exhibition includes ten large paintings arranged as a 19th-century panorama, using concrete to create gray absences that suggest restoration lacunae.