grotte stellaire by julien salaud at palais de tokyo

‘grotte stellaire’ by julien salaud, 2012 image © andré morin

recently renovated parisian art space palais de tokyo has given french artist julien salaud their alice guy hall to fill with his luminescent installation ‘grotte stellaire’ for the triennale of contemporary art on show until august 6th. in a new twist to the celebrated ceiling frescos by the renaissance masters or primitive cave drawings discovered on the walls of recessed natural spaces in europe, salaud has developed a painstakingly precise, three-dimensional mural upon the uppermost area of the expansive, darkened space. with the help of a small team, the artist and trained anthropologist has manipulated white string, nailing the material to the ceiling in the shapes of deer which seem to comprise a celestial body when illuminated with an ultraviolet lighting system. the luminescent string paintings depicts a group of deer in various states of motion, decorating the curved edge in which the ceiling meets the wall in what seems to be something from a planetarium, cave painting or cathedral picturing a surrealistic depiction of heavenly beastly bodies.

the string-drawn deer seem to dance across the sloped ceiling image © andré morin

an additional view of the luminescent animals image © andré morin

‘it awakens the potential paleolithic rituals associated with worship of the stars and says, in this film necessarily devoted to the appearance of images, a fable about the birth of these in our consciousness. it awakens the potential paleolithic rituals associated with worship of the stars and says, in this movie necessarily devoted to the appearance of images, a fable about the birth of contention in our consciousness.’ -palais de tokyo

detailed perspectives of the glow-in-the-dark deer figures images courtesy the artist

a perspective picturing the installation from a directly terrestrial view image courtesy the artist

visitors celebrate the decoration of palais de tokyo’s alice guy hall with julien salud’s ‘grotte stellaire’ installation image © sheik / CNDprod.

with lights turned on, the white thread tracing the ceiling is exposed image courtesy the artist

the making of ‘grotte stellaire’ images courtesy the artist

interview in french ‘interview julien salaud’ by palaisdetokyo

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