huang yong ping's skeletal serpent for monumenta paris

huang yong ping snakes 250 meter skeletal serpent through paris’ grand palais
all images © adagp, paris 2016 / courtesy of the artist and kamel mennour, paris
photos by didier plowy for rmn-GP

huang yong ping: ’empires’ for monumenta 2016
grand palais, paris
now through to june 18th, 2016

beneath the immense glass dome of the more than 13,000 square meter nave of paris’ grand palais, franco-chinese artist huang yong ping has formed an immense immersive installation for monumenta — now in its 7th edition. ’empires’ — organized by the réunion des musées nationaux in collaboration with the french ministry of culture and communication — intends to serve as a symbol of today’s economic landscape. huang yong ping uses the architecture of the industrial-age grand palais to represent political and economic powers, the rise of new geographical regions, the decline of ancient empires and the arranged emergence of new candidates for power.

huang yong ping – empires – monumenta 2016
video courtesy of kamel mennour

the installation comprises a vibrant architectural arrangement of eight ‘islands’ interspersed with oversized objects, over which looms an enormous skeletal frame of a snake. the massive bone structure of the serpent spans a total of 254 meters in length, weaving in and around the nave of the grand palais. the sculpture comprises 316 vertebrae and 568 cast aluminum ribs assembled around a central tube and distributed over 28 steel posts.

’empires’ is housed beneath the immense glass dome of the nave of paris’ grand palais

the serpent is configured around an architectural arrangement of 305 metal shipping containers that form the centerpiece of the installation. these stacked compositions are distributed among eight islands, bearing a vibrant mix of colors and logos from different shipping companies that forms a colorful mosaic. installed on two piles of containers — forming a sort of ‘arc de triomphe’ above the central walkway — yong ping had added an oversized historical hat. the sculptural ‘bicorne’ is an enlargement of the hat worn by napoleon bonaparte at the battle of eylau in 1807. it has been reproduced, down to the very last detail, from the original model scanned in 3D at the musée de l’armée in paris 2014. finally, in the middle of the installation, the ‘rubber tyre gantry’ overlooks the main central walkway formed by the containers. the functional, motorized bridge-like structure supports the snake skeleton at five intersecting points.

the exhibition intends to serve as a symbol of today’s economic landscape