The Room of Tears
30.09.2021 – 01.02.2022
La Maison Valmont Munich
Suddenly on her journey a giant Alice cries in frustration, and then becomes tiny again and almost drowns in the pool of her own tears. Using his typical shape of the open cube, Didier Guillon focuses on ten challenges that mankind has imposed on itself: intimate challenges, and some universal challenges. Inside the cubes, the artist presents boxes marked with symbols of emergency or danger. The visitor is invited to open the cassettes to discover their content, and to measure how much the different challenges express a social pressure on their daily existence.
Guillon’s practice of art is anchored in our contemporary issues and socially concerned. It is thus no surprise that he decided to focus on challenges common to us all. He identified seven notable such problematics, that he baptized “intimate dictatorships”: image, food, cell phones…
He then caged them in blue boxes, blue as Alice’s tears. These cages, see-through, provide insights into the artist’s vision. But whether to engage with them or not depends entirely on the visitors, caught in the ambitious artistic installation.
Three additional cages open a window onto Valmont’s identity. The golden mask, butterfly and miniaturized cage they contain build a conceptual bridge with The Room of Tears display locations. All three symbols nod to Valmont brands’ excellence, to be experienced at all the Maisons Valmont.
The artist’s distinctive touch, his tongue-in-cheek humor is palpable in the piece, just as in the original tale. Down the rabbit hole, Fondation Valmont and La Maison Valmont is proud to present The Room of Tears by Didier Guillon, who hopes that it will inspire visitors in the same way that Alice has inspired him.
Previous Exhibition in Berlin
