Warhol, Avedon, Niki de Saint Phalle, Martial Raysse, the spirit of the sixties from the Pinault Collection rocks the Couvent des Jacobins de Rennes

The Couvent des Jacobins is adorned with the colors of the 1960s and presents the “Forever sixties” exhibition until September 10, 2023. Through more than 80 iconic works, some of which have never been exhibited by the Pinault Collection, the route sheds light on a decisive moment in the history of contemporary art, the visual revolution of the 1960s, and its powerful heritage in the creation of the following decades.

swinging sixties

In the beautiful setting of the Couvent des Jacobins, the exhibition forever sixties clashes with the silence carried by the hundred-year-old walls. On a playlist concocted by Etienne Daho, immaculate white is flooded with pop colors. We meet Andy Warhol, the master of Pop Art photographed by Richard Avedon or his tangy Marylin, but also a hyper realistic installation by Duane Hanson, The girls of Nikki de Saint-Phale or even Llyn Foulkes who does not hesitate to kill Mickey.

All these works illustrate a certain idea of ​​protest. From feminist and anti-racist struggles to ideological conflicts, from sexual liberation to the rejection of consumer society, the artists point out the contradictions of the period by all means and with all techniques.

Like the visual artist Edward Kienholz, who in 1961 created a reproduction of a brothel with salvaged objects and brutalized bodies in the Las Vegas of the 1940s. “Anything found in flea markets or in garbage cans is a symptom, an index of civilization that is rotting, Kienholz is truly one of the most acerbic critics of American society”, explains the curator of the exhibition Tristan Bera.

Ode to popular culture

In the different exhibition rooms of the Convent, the visitor discovers or rediscovers this decade marked by an unprecedented demographic and economic boom, the emergence of the consumer society and the beginning of the conquest of space. A revolution where alternative counter-cultures and dreams of escape will loudly express themselves in the visual arts.

Overturning the system, criticizing mass media and advertising, rebelling against mercantilist thought, the artists shake up mentalities. “It’s the starting point of contemporary art, it’s the moment when modern art is heckled or the great heroic, virile stories are questioned and it’s the moment when popular culture really enters the mainstream. ‘art”, further details Tristan Bera.

Constructed as a walk through this era, the route of the Couvent des Jacobins guides the visitor to the heart of the works in the Pinault collection. From John Baldessari, to Teresa Burga, from Gilbert & George to Kiki Kogelnik, from Barbara Kruger to Tim Noble & Sue Webster, some of these works have never been shown to the public.

contemporary Rennes

All summer long, the city of Rennes vibrates to the rhythm of contemporary art. The exhibition at the Couvent des Jacobins is conceived in resonance with the first retrospective in France devoted to the British visual artist Jeremy Deller.

A multidisciplinary artist whose path crossed that of Andy Warhol.“Art is a good way for me to be interested in the world, it’s a very useful mechanism to interpret the world, organize it and think about it and not be too depressed”, he assures.