Thomas Demand Curates 'La Carte d'après nature' at Villa Paloma, Monaco

The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (NMNM) opened its second site, Villa Paloma, with an inaugural exhibition titled 'La Carte d'après nature,' curated by German artist Thomas Demand. Running from September 18, 2010, to February 22, 2011, the show pays homage to René Magritte, who published a magazine of the same name from 1952 to 1956. Demand selected 17 artists whose works explore nature and surrealism, including Luigi Ghirri, Anne Holtrop, Martin Boyce, Henrik Hakansson, Chris Garofalo, Saâdane Afif, Becky Beasley, Robert Mallet-Stevens, and Kudjoe Affutu. Highlights include Magritte's 'La Malédiction' (1931) juxtaposed with Holtrop's 'Floating Island – Spa' (2009-2010), Ghirri's verdant photographs alongside Demand's paper creations, and Affutu's coffin-refrigerator inspired by Ghanaian animist tradition. The exhibition also features a sound installation by Hakansson recording Monaco birds. NMNM director Marie-Claude Beaud noted that Villa Paloma will focus on landscape and nature, complementing Villa Sauber's dedication to performing arts, which currently presents Yinka Shonibare. Demand acknowledged that the associations between works 'can be diffuse and perhaps barely comprehensible.'