Eternity if possible | Between carnage and beauty

Solid exhibition on the upheavals of the 21st century^e century, Eternity if possible is a Franco-Quebec co-production presented at the Salle Alfred-Pellan, in Laval, until November 10. The works of eight French and Quebec artists evoke the risks humanity runs. And all these tragedies that follow one another shake the planet and undermine our morale…

The COVID-19 pandemic, with its deaths and its obstacles. The climate crisis and its deaths from wildfires, floods, etc. The nuclear threat has reappeared since the war in Ukraine. Wars with their staggering death tolls and injuries, like in Gaza. According to a Swedish organization, UCDP, the number of conflicts and deaths linked to wars has increased by 400% in 20 years and by 97% since 2022.

The vulnerability of humanity is the subject of Eternity if possiblewhich stems from a five-year collaboration between two artistic venues, one French, La Maison Abandoned, in Nice, and the other Quebecois, Salle Alfred-Pellan, in Laval. A co-production presented in Nice in the summer and now in Laval. The exhibition includes works by French artists Tom Barbagli, Sophie Braganti, Aurélien Mauplot and Églé Vismanté, and Quebecers Chloé Beaulac, Martin Bureau, Pierre & Marie and Mathieu Latulippe.

Entering the Alfred-Pellan room, you come across the pendulum installation The time of stonesby Tom Barbagli. A clock moves forward and backward, and chimes randomly. Work on the passing of time, elusive, and its ever more oppressive and worrying news.

The artist added a small music box that plays the tune of What will be will beabout our uncertain future.

Devastation

Lithuanian-born artist Églé Vismanté exhibits charcoal drawings inspired by Baltic tales and evoking our propensity for destruction, as well as a video recalling the consequences of a storm which ravaged a Mercantour valley in 2020 , north of Nice, leaving 18 dead and missing and dozens of houses destroyed.

Devastation is also at the heart of the series Escape in major ruin by Martin Bureau, whose watercolors were all the rage in Nice. The Quebec artist represents the midnight of the Doomsday Clock, with the destruction of churches and minarets.

Spectacular works accompanied by a video on the demolition of a church, images coupled with explosions of fireworks, all enveloped by the music of a Bach fugue.

Between carnage and beauty.

The duo Pierre & Marie exhibits several sculptures. Decayflowers that wither, is a critique of capitalism which generates wealth, but also poverty and environmental degradation.

With A bright end of the worlda candle (created in neon) collapses, a way of wishing a happy birthday to a planet full of fire and blood.

Hope, despite disasters

Interested in housing and survivalism, Mathieu Latulippe created JunGolf Monoplex-Phase 2a fabric container inside which we discover objects that reveal the activities of a person who took refuge there after a disaster. A reflection also on our capacity to adapt.

Another interesting installation The eternalsa graphic novel by Aurélien Mauplot on the nuclear tests carried out over the past 70 years. Nourishing and moving work, with testimonies, photos, objects and paintings representing the places ravaged by the tests. An armchair allows you to think about all that…

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The exhibition is sprinkled with poetry, with prose and a video by Sophie Braganti. A woman is having fun on a swing and covers her face to hide her worries. An evocation of our unconsciousness, of our incapacity to resolve problems which end up degenerating.

Nearby, Chloé Beaulac hung a string of Tibetan prayer pennants. An invitation to hope despite everything.

Visit the exhibition page