Régis Perray Transforms Maubuisson Abbey into Domestic and Poetic Realm

Régis Perray has created an exhibition at the Abbaye de Maubuisson that gently activates the spirit of the former Cistercian abbey through domestic aesthetics and playful interventions. Visitors are invited to wear skates to wax a wooden track, sit in an old-fashioned grandmother's salon, and contemplate nearly four thousand flowered plates arranged on the floor. These everyday objects and actions challenge the auratic quality of art and encourage immediate appropriation. Perray's work also references the site's history: the chapter house, where nuns' tombs were discovered in 1983, is transformed into a lively sepulcher with discreet flowers and natural light. A model of a chapel with a tree of life echoes embroidered stone vestiges, suggesting material and spiritual survival. The exhibition, titled "L'Abbaye fleurie," runs at the Abbaye de Maubuisson, a center for contemporary art in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, France. Perray's video "Acariciar Lisboa" shows him caressing 300 hand-painted azulejos in Lisbon, further exploring the sensuality of domestic labor.