Philippe Parreno's Palais de Tokyo exhibition explores light and New Enlightenment concepts

Philippe Parreno's exhibition 'Anywhere, Anywhere Out of the World' at Paris's Palais de Tokyo in March 2014 explores themes of light and darkness through cinematic installations. The show features mechanical grand pianos playing Igor Stravinsky's Petrushka, flickering lamps, fluorescent images, and 16 Marquees with lightbulbs that dance on and off. A video by Parreno documents children chanting 'No more reality' during a sunny protest, with scenes shifting to an infant's face, a jellyfish-like creature, and flowers. The exhibition includes a darkened room with glowing elements that recharge when lights reactivate. Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster performed as a late-nineteenth-century man with a moustache, carrying a light through the space. Works reference fictional characters like Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, Marilyn Monroe, and the manga figure Annlee, who possesses legal rights. Liam Gillick contributed black snow falling on a grand piano, replacing glitter from his previous exhibition. The Eiffel Tower appears through a window, described by Roland Barthes and Guy de Maupassant as a signifier without inherent meaning. Parreno's exhibition parallels concepts of a New Enlightenment, where light creates opacity and abstraction rather than transparency. The show emphasizes paradoxes and relational lighting protocols, with few contributions by women among the male artists featured.