Previous exhibition
Annette Messager – Désirs désordonnés / Disordered Desires
About the exhibition
ARoS presents a comprehensive solo exhibition by the internationally recognised French artist Annette Messager (b. 1943, Berck-sur-Mer, France). The exhibition Désirs désordonnés / Disordered Desires is the first exhibition with Annette Messager in Denmark and provides a unique insight into her surrealist, feminist and aesthetic universe.
The exhibition includes everything from large, well-known to previously unseen works, where she uses 'found objects', collage elements and intuitive drawings that allow her to create works that reference artistic styles and movements such as surrealism, Dadaism, the grotesque and absurd, and the magical. She is concerned with various socially relevant challenges, which she manages to transform into fables and fiction that blur the boundaries between fantasy and reality.
Without desire, life is meaningless to me. Sometimes it's very simple desires like talking to friends, cuddling the cat and hearing it purr... The desire to search, to strive to add something creative to my life... all in a big mess, confusion, complications and inconsistencies most of the time.
Annette Messager
Annette Messager is celebrated in her native France, where she was recently awarded the Légion d'honneur, the most prestigious cultural recognition given by the French state.
She has also been awarded a Golden Lion in the category 'Best National Presentation' at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005 for her installation Casino in the French Pavilion.
Annette Messager is inspired by female artists such as Louise Nevelson, Eva Hesse and Louise Bourgeois, as well as film and literature. Her works often challenge the boundaries between art and life, gender roles and social norms. She has created a style and aesthetic that combines objects and photographs with textiles, embroidery and sewing, and deals with the distortion and psychologising of folktales, motherhood and the position of women in a modern family pattern.
The exhibition is organised in collaboration with LaM - Lille Métropole Musée d'art moderne, d'art contemporain et d'art brut, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France, and Annette Messager.
Reviews
The figures are conveniently placed on simple wheeled units, and it is here that the artist mixes serious musings with a grotesque sense of humour.
Jyllands-Posten
It's easy to feel the old master's latest touch. It is formidable and touching in all its teasing horror
Weekendavisen
International contemporary artist Annette Messager uses grotesque black humour and a sculptural playfulness to talk about our messy, forbidden desires. She can finally be experienced in Denmark in a large-scale exhibition at ARoS
Information
The exhibition at Aros is more than a glimpse into the work of an ageing artist, it is a presentation of a contemporary artist's neglected work in our latitudes. The catalogue even features one of the best interviews in a long time, with Hans Ulrich Obrist visiting Annette Messager's home and world. Bravo Aros.
Kristeligt Dagblad
Messager is a tempter who, with his archetypal surrealism icons at ARoS and this, his first exhibition in Denmark, takes us into an artistry so French and femme that it's enough to make you swoon. Not in the gorgeous way.
Politiken
Special thanks to
Augustinus Fonden
Beckett-Fonden
Knud Højgaards Fond
INSTITUT FRANÇAIS
Ege Carpets