Voyage as Artistic Quest at Louis Vuitton Cultural Space

The exhibition 'Ailleurs' at Espace culturel Louis Vuitton in Paris, from February 11 to May 8, 2011, curated by Paul Ardenne, brings together seventeen artists whose works stem from actual journeys, often framed as a search for the absolute. The show opens with a drawing by Paul Gauguin. A photograph documents Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader, who set sail in a frail boat in 1975 and was lost at sea. The iceberg-shaped scenography leads viewers toward polar regions: Olivier Leroi proposes a flag for Antarctica featuring emperor penguin colors. Lucy and Jorge Orta erect their Antarctic Village in Ushuaia, with tents bearing multiple flags, reminding that borders persist even in remote areas. Other artists take a more poetic approach: Fabrice Langlade plans a porcelain bridge in the Mongolian steppe; Chilean Fernando Prats lets natural elements affect his drawings. Yann Dumoget began a world tour in 2008, intending each encounter to lead to another, acting as an 'anachronistic Mercury' (per Ardenne). However, he found that the only relationships he could form with locals were money-based. His work—a large world map tracing his itineraries, pinned with visas, local bills, and receipts—is described as the most lucid and saddest piece, reflecting a shrinking world.