“Laure Prouvost. Above Front Tears Oui Float” at the National Museum – Reviews and recommendations

In the spectacular experiential work “Above Front Tears Oui Float” which is now on display in the National Museum, the French artist invites the public into a dream-like foggy reality. Laure Prouvost is a highly recognized artist and, among other things, represented France at the Venice Biennale in 2019. She is the first artist to be given the opportunity to create a project that fills the entire large hall of light in the new National Museum. And here she really hasn’t let the opportunity pass her by. She has created a work in which she stitches together dreams, mythologies, art historical references and harsh realities. A recurring theme in the exhibition is global warming and climate change, but unlike much climate art, the work is not characterized by gloomy pessimism. On the contrary, it is loaded with life-affirming humour, warmth and sensuality. GIGANIPS: The exhibition is full of strange figures that resemble giant trinkets. Photo: Annar Bjørgli / © Laure Prouvost/BONO, 2022 Oil spills and flying women The two departments of the large light hall are connected by two different tunnel constructions. The first is a clean-cut architectural structure that brings us into a dimly lit hall. Here we see a reality of plastic rubbish, powerful oil pipes and birds caught in oil spills. In the middle of a mirror-like pond that is supposed to look like oil, a fountain with a very beige-pink bird with a shiny orange-yellow beak gapes at the sky. DYSTERT: The first thing that meets us are large oil pipes and a lot of mess. Photo: The National Museum/Annar Bjørgli © Laure Prouvost/BONO CAUGHT: Oil spills are not good news for these birds either. HOPE: But maybe there is hope after all? Perhaps it is an image of hope, like a bird Phoenix rising from the ashes. Behind this fountain we can see a film on a giant curved screen, where an elderly lady with bird wings flies jubilantly through the air. The soundtrack consists of singing and whispering and strengthens the unreal feeling that characterizes the entire installation. FLYING GRANDMOTHER: For many years, Prouvost’s artistry has revolved around grandparents. This time it is about the grandmother’s free flight through the air with palm fronds as bird wings. Photo: ALEX KACHKAEV / COURTESY OF THE ARTIST Dark caves and nudity We are then led into a powerful textile installation, where we can lie down in a pile of cushions and look up at an image flicker of textile motifs in a kind of digital tissue. This is mixed with film projections dancing over the textile. Birds chirping and low voices mix with the soundtrack outside in the hall. It is wonderful to lie inside the dark cave surrounded by soft sounds and floating images. POWERFUL: From “Laure Prouvost. Above Front Tears Oui Float”. Photo: Annar Bjørgli I have to pull myself together to get up and go out. Above stones and mounds of earth in the darkened landscape outside hang some strange baskets, where straw, branches and flowers stick out like antennae or tentacles. It takes some time before I understand that I can put my head up in such a basket and see the exhibition through VR glasses. Suddenly the room is populated by naked women. A very pregnant girl with heavy breasts comes right up to me and whispers something I don’t understand. I rush back to physical reality. CAVE IN THE MOUNTAIN: From a dark tunnel you go through a cave and into a hall bathed in a milky light. Photo: Annar Bjørgli / Annar Bjørgli A picture of hope A new tunnel is now leading me into the light. This tunnel is more like a cave in the mountain. As my eyes gradually get used to the darkness inside, I see that the “stone formations” in the tunnel form everything from fish creatures to female breasts and male genitalia. From the walls hang pointed Allen keys that you can use to scratch a thought or a name into the porous wall. The hall we now enter is bathed in a milky light as if in a theatrical, paradisiacal dream. Mighty boulders rise out of a damp mist that floats along the floor. PINK SCULPTURE: The exhibition is full of wonderful, beautiful and surreal elements. Photo: Annar Bjørgli / © Laure Prouvost/BONO, 2022 In the same way as in the second hall, an enormous canvas forms the center of the installation. There is also a fountain in front here. This time there are two pastel colored fish creatures spitting water into each other’s mouths. The puddle on the floor is now clear and should perhaps look like rainwater with floating branches and leaves. An ostrich-like bird bends its neck all the way down to the surface of the water. Above us is a mighty dome of textile filled with light and dancing shadows. FISH BREATH: Pastel colored fish creatures that spit water. Photo: Annar Bjørgli / © Laure Prouvost/BONO, 2022 I lie down in the middle of the ceiling, on something that looks like soft rock, but which turns out to be textile. Here I can look up at a wealth of small mobile sculptures made of twigs, leaves, objects, cellophane, plastic and metal that move with a tinkling, tinkling sound. Harmful to children? Even before the press screening and opening, Laure Prouvost’s exhibition has made headlines. It is about the three smoke machines that create a low-lying cloud cover of water and oil in parts of the exhibition. SMOKE CARPET: A moist mist made of oil and water floats along the floor in the bright part of the exhibition. Photo: Annar Bjørgli / © Laure Prouvost/BONO, 2022 “Not good for children”, claims the Asthma and Allergy Association. If that’s true, that’s an incredible shame. In terms of experience, this is an exhibition that is particularly suitable for children and young people: the exhibition is chock-full of strange, funny and strange things. Here you don’t need to know anything in advance; it’s just a matter of surrendering to this strong, sensual experience. It is simply difficult to leave the exhibition, because it is so wonderful to be there. news reviewer Photo: ANNAR BJØRGLI / © LAURE PROUVOST/BONO, 2022 Exhibition: “Laure Prouvost. Above Front Tears Oui Float» Location: Lyshallen, National Museum, Oslo Artist: Laure Prouvost Period: 5 November 2022–12. February 2023 Curator exhibition: Eva Klerck Gange Curator dissemination: Anna Carin Hedberg and Mariken Kramer



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