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LILIAN BOURGEAT « DES MESURES » 19 JUNE - 14 OCTOBER 2018 Unibail-Rodamco is proud to present the new temporary exhibition at the Polygone Riviera shopping centre: “DES MESURES” by the French artist Lilian Bourgeat. From 19 June to 14 October, visitors from all over the world will be able to wander around spectacular artworks by Lilian Bourgeat, a major figure on the contemporary art scene. His works are XXL reproductions of everyday objects strongly evocative of Gulliver’s Travels. These extraordinary oversized objects, which include a coat rack, a shopping trolley and a giant pair of wellington boots, invite the viewer to share an unusual experience in a place that we might be tempted to reduce to a single purpose. The “encounter” between Polygone Riviera and Lilian Bourgeat shows that the shopping centre is a place that constantly reinvents not only the way we live together and go shopping, but also the way we discover things, learn, relax, think or meditate. After an exhibition of works by Miró in 2016 organised in partnership with the Fondation Maeght, followed by sculptures and photographs by Philippe Ramette, Unibail-Rodamco is delighted to present the works of Lilian Bourgeat as part of its 2018 art programme. Anne-Sophie Sancerre, General Director, Shopping Centre, France 2 Polygone Riviera art programme presents, from June 19 to October 14 2018, an exhibition of the work of the French artist Lilian Bourgeat, an exceptional set of twelve sculptures of “augmented” objects, including two new works made especially for the occasion. The title, “DES MESURES”, which literally means “measurements”, is a pun on the word “démesure”, meaning “huge size”. I LOOK FOR BANAL OBJECTS HIDDEN IN EVERYDAY LIFE: THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT IS SPECTACULAR. LILIAN BOURGEAT Polygone Riviera — the first open-air shopping centre Since the early 2000s, Lilian Bourgeat has been known in France — owned by the Unibail-Rodamco Group, was for his spectacular work, which involves enlarging iconic opened in 2015 in Cagnes-sur-Mer. Polygone Riviera is everyday objects: boots, wheelbarrows, tables, coat stands, designed as a unique cultural complex with art at its core, shopping trolleys, and so on. Surprised by this enlargement in an environment combining shops with relaxation areas.* of reality, visitors find themselves confronted by a world that is as familiar as it is disconcerting: a world of objects During summer 2016, an exceptional set of sculptures designed solely for giants. Lilian Bourgeat creates an by Joan Miró was presented in Polygone Riviera, atmosphere straight out of Gulliver’s Travels adapted to the organised in partnership with the Fondation Maeght in contemporary era, offering the viewer unique experiences. Saint-Paul-de-Vence (a leading cultural institution in the While referencing a shared cultural unconsciousness, the region). Then, in 2017, a temporary exhibition of the gravity amazing change of scale these objects undergo deprives and logic-defying works of Philippe Ramette took place in them of their initial functionality and shifts them into another the streets of the shopping centre, presenting a sequence world: the world of the extraordinary. of irrational scenes. As you walk around the streets and squares of Polygone Continuing this exploration of the French art scene, this third Riviera, oversized hyper-realistic objects appear, offering temporary exhibition is devoted to Lilian Bourgeat, one of a playful alternate interpretation of the world around us. the leading contemporary artists of his generation. As doorways opened towards an imaginary world these artworks form a discovery trail on the boundaries of science fiction and yet at the very heart of reality. Jérôme Sans, artistic director *Since its opening in 2015, Polygone Riviera has presented a permanent collection of human-scale artworks by Ben, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Daniel Buren, César, Antony Gormley, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Pablo Reinoso, Pascale Marthine Tayou and Wang Du, dotted around the shopping centre. 3 THE “UNSOLD BOOTS(...)” MIGHT REMIND US OF CHILDHOOD FAIRY TALES (THE SEVEN LEAGUE BOOTS) BUT THE FACT THAT THERE ARE TWO LEFT FEET LEADS US TO ANOTHER INTERPRETATION. I LIKE THIS IDEA OF A MISTAKE. LILIAN BOURGEAT The artist imbues this pair of wellington boots, which the title tells us are “unsold”, with light-hearted humour. Made in 2008, the boots highlight the different meanings that can be assigned to an object. Simply placed on the ground as if by some giant, they are evocative of the magical “seven- league boots” in the children’s story. But by enigmatically presenting two left feet, the artist seems to be attracting our attention to the ordinariness of production line failures. These “hyper-realistic” larger-than-life objects question the boundary between functionality and excess. 4 Invendus – bottes (pieds gauches), 2008 Resin, polyester, 300 x 200 x 80 cm each Courtesy of City of Boulogne-sur-Mer 5 Terrasse, 2013 Polyester resin, stainless steel, Tables: 150 x 200 x 200 cm each ; Chairs: 196 x 125 x 115 cm each Courtesy Galerie Lange+Pult 6 VIEWERS ALREADY APPROPRIATE AND HANDLE THE TABLE AND CHAIRS WHEN THEY LOOK AT THEM, PROJECTING THEIR INTENTIONS ONTO THEM. LILIAN BOURGEAT Lilian Bourgeat offers an up-to-date version of Gulliver’s feasts. He presents a functional garden table surrounded by white plastic chairs evocative of childhood. Giant-sized and thus hard to use, these huge objects stimulate a desire to participate on the part of the viewer, while spurring our imagination. Beyond the comical dimension of the scene, the work sets up a conversation and undermines our certainties by challenging our human scale. By creating large-format replicas of familiar furniture and turning them into sculptures, he plays with our state of confusion. The cheap, free-standing, stackable items reference the plastics industry, where mass-production raises questions about authorship in the age of generic objects. 7 SHOPPING TROLLEYS ARE ALREADY USED FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES IN EVERYDAY LIFE. LILIAN BOURGEAT Lilian Bourgeat questions our shared cultural unconscious that underlies objects. He plays with the iconic nature of ordinary objects and their mimetic familiarity by presenting this series of four giant supermarket trolleys. Through this artistic gesture, Lilian Bourgeat throws into the circulation of objects in the consumer society. This is the first time the work has been presented in its original context: a shopping centre. 8 Caddies, 2014 Galvanised steel, polyester resin wheels, 210 x 230 x 150 cm each Courtesy Galerie Lange+Pult 9 Banc public, 2018 Aluminium, steel, wood, 187,7 x 500 x 160 cm Courtesy Galerie Lange+Pult 10 SITTING ON THE “PUBLIC BENCH ” REQUIRES A SPECIAL EFFORT. YOU CLAMBER UP, SHARPEN YOUR EMOTIONS, AND SEE THE WORLD IN A DIFFERENT WAY. LILIAN BOURGEAT Lilian Bourgeat surprises us by enlarging reality. Continuing his series of larger-than-life objects, the hyper-realistic, oversized “Public Bench”, made specially for this exhibition, questions our notions of fake objects and evokes the history of the “ready-made”. The “ready-made” was defined by its inventor, the artist Marcel Duchamp, as “an ordinary object promoted to the dignity of an art object by the mere decision of the artist”. In other words, it’s a manufactured or found object which, when placed in a museum, acquires the status of an artwork. The bench is an everyday object that usually punctuates public areas. Here, it is solely designed for giants and undermines our perception of reality. This model of a public bench is probably the most widely encountered in France, and draws on the collective unconscious and the image of collective life in the city. 11 ASSEMBLED IN NEW CONFIGURATIONS, THE WHEELBARROWS BECOME TEMPLATES FOR MY OWN CREATIONS. LILIAN BOURGEAT The Wheelbarrow is part of a similar playful interpretation of the day-to-day world. Bereft of its usual purpose, the work acquires a new autonomy thanks to a change of scale. Instead of an ordinary worker’s tool, it achieves the status of a giant surrealist object, inviting the viewer to experience something unique and unsettling. Echoing the Shopping Trolleys, the Wheelbarrows series underlines the different use that can be made of these objects and the agricultural world they are associated with. The work also evokes a mould, because like the Piggy Bank, the wheelbarrow is a productive mould and an opaque container. The barrows are presented here one inside the other: like an “assisted ready-made”, the way they are assembled gives them a new sculptural and aesthetic dimension. This way of stacking two independent objects creates a new mysterious form. 12 Brouettes, 2015 Resin, polyester, stainless steel, 150 x 230 x 90 cm each Courtesy Galerie Lange+Pult 13 Perroquet, 2010 Galvanised steel, 650 x 150 x 150 cm Courtesy Piacé le radieux 14 THIS WORK PLAYS WITH THE IDEA OF WHAT’S MISSING: WHAT’S OFTEN HIDDEN OR CONCEALED FROM VIEW. LILIAN BOURGEAT Perroquet is a huge galvanised steel coat rack over six metres tall. The coat rack is often an invisible object: its shape can no longer be seen when it’s buried under layers of clothes. Here, the object is deprived of its original purpose. It tips over into the imaginary world, revealed by its title, which means both “Parrot” and “coat rack”. The stylised hooks evoke the curved bodies of birds gathered at the top of a tree. In this way, the nudity of the object gives it an undeniably sculptural quality. 15 PIGGY BANK IS A SELF- REFERENTIAL OBJECT: THE CONTAINER SURPASSES WHAT IT CONTAINS. LILIAN BOURGEAT The works of Lilian Bourgeat attempt to step beyond the ordinary, both literally and figuratively. With Piggy Bank 2 (noir), he presents an augmented sculpture. The work consists of an oversized replica of an iconic piggy bank, which looks exactly like the original.