THE IMAGINARY MUSEUM
The Imaginary Museum is an exhibition and digital platform inspired by the work "The Imaginary Museum" by André Malraux, the French Minister of Culture. In this work, Malraux discusses the impact of photography as a "humble means of dissemination intended to make the undisputed masterpieces known to those who could not afford engravings." The reproduction of artworks through photography has transformed our relationship with art, creating a "museum without walls" in our collective imagination.
This project is a reinterpretation of the book published in 1947. It compares the past photographic revolution to new methods of presenting art and their impact on the world of culture, thus creating an "imaginary museum." In this democratic spirit, through Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, physical and digital works blend in the physical gallery and on the website www.theimaginarymuseum.art, offering an immersive experience in both the real and digital worlds, where the boundary between materiality and immateriality is blurred.
This exhibition and platform is curated by Mehdi Dakhli, with the support of Tatras. "Fashion brands play a significant role in how individuals perceive and interact with contemporary culture," he explains. On this occasion, The Imaginary Museum commissioned digital artist Geoffrey Lillemon, who created two video works inspired by the brand's universe presented on the platform www.theimaginarymuseum.art.
The exhibition questions the place of art in space, particularly by placing digital sculptures in the public space so that users can visit the exhibition from anywhere, without having to go to the physical gallery. André Malraux's legacy is above all a desire to democratize culture and take it out of traditional dissemination places such as museums or galleries, which for many can be intimidating. The ambition of the exhibition is to modestly contribute to this democratization.
Designed as an avant-garde dissemination space, the exhibition questions the concept of reality as a corollary of the materiality of the work. Materiality should no longer be the sole criterion for validating a sculpture. This notion has become obsolete since the advent of other mediums such as performance. It is possible to acquire a performance by acquiring its protocol, so why shouldn't it be possible to own a digital sculpture? The exhibition pays tribute to the Fluxus movement that disrupted the art world by encouraging artists to question established conventions and prompting them to deconstruct artistic norms.
A portion of the exhibition's proceeds will be donated to the Music Academy and Art Center created by the TO.org foundation, located in the Bidi Bidi refugee camp in northern Uganda. The organization is built on the fundamental belief that to heal the world, we must adopt a creative approach and nurture the relationships and talents that make the world better.
The presented artists will have the opportunity to sell their artworks on www.theimaginarymuseum.art, which aims to simplify access to the world of art, whether physical or digital. The exhibition showcases the work of artists including Gioele Amaro, Giovanni Leonardo Bassan, Alexandre Gourçon, Andreas Greiner, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, Egor Kraft, Oliver Laric, Geoffrey Lillemon, Giuseppe Lo Schiavo, Jonas Lund, and Natalia Mimran.
