With: Aderemi Adegbite, Mehraneh Atashi, Shishir Bhattacharjee, Biquini Wax EPS, Britto Arts Trust, Luciano Calderon, Chelsea Culprit, Ndidi Dike, Doktor Karayom, Ema Edosio, Kadara Enyeasi, Falz, Dex Fernandez, Dina Gadia, Betzabé García, David Griggs, Ha.Mü, Timmy Harn, La Havi, Amir Kamand, Hoda Kashiha, Lulu, Tala Madani, Farrokh Mahdavi, Pow Martinez, Arash Nassiri, Leeroy New, Emeka Ogboh, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Adeola Olagunju, Ashfika Rahman, Mahbubur Rahman, Fernando Palma Rodríguez, John Jayvee del Rosario et Maine Magno (Urban Decay Planning), Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, Reetu Sattar, Mamali Shafahi, Reza Shafahi, Justin Shoulder, Mohammad Shoaib, Manuel Solano, Newsha Tavakolian, Stephen Tayo, Tercerunquinto, Traición, WAFFLESNCREAM, Maria Jeona Zoleta, Zombra, Anisuzzaman Sohel, Ahmed Hossain, Jewel A Rob, Rafiqul Islam, Tapan Das, Lutfur Nahar, Najmun Nahar Keya, Promotesh Das Pulak, Yasmin Jahan Nupur, Yuji Agematsu, Lorena Ancona, Lucas Arruda, Michael Berryhill, Juliette Blightman, Christian Camacho, Nina Canell, Martin Soto Climent, Josef Dabernig, Miho Dohi, Ann Cathrin November Høibo, Frieda Toranzo Jaeger, Ian Kiaer, Ryan Nord Kitchen, Jiří Kovanda, Ella Kruglyanskaya, Jochen Lempert, José Antonio Suárez Londoño, Jenine Marsh, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Kate Newby, Aliza Nisenbaum, Scott Olson, Lisa Oppenheim, Santiago de Paoli, Matt Paweski, Manfred Pernice, Daniel Rios Rodriguez, Willem de Rooij, Victoria Roth, Lin May Saeed, Anna Schachinger, Shana Sharp, Michael E. Smith, John Smith, Melanie Smith, Pádraig Timoney, Hayley Tompkins, Patricia Treib, Lucía Vidales, Ambera Wellmann, Allison Katz, Camilla Wills, Lea von Wintzingerode, B. Wurtz, Marcel Alcalá, Max Ammo, Andonella, Paula Assadourian, Victor Barragán, Cute Brute, Persian Circumcision, Maria Conejo, Chelsea Culprit, Daniel Díaz, Rafa Esparza, Inés Estrada, Mohammed Fayaz, Fersan, Diego Gómez, Sergio Hernández, Jovan Israel, Rachel Levit, Rudy Loewe, Luxiano31, So Me, Miguel, Julián Morales, Yego Muñoz, Shalva Nikvashvili, Alejandro Núñez, Sean O’Connor, Ian O’Phelan, El Chico Cabello De Pan, Mariano Pascual, Maldito Perrito, Suricato Quintero, Radriguez, Miguel Rual, Sangree, Skiff, Sabor Suave, Santee Alley Trade, Carmela Tzigana, Valleiyey, Lorena Vega, Nah Wah
Exhibition title: City Prince/sses. DHAKA, LAGOS, MANILA, MEXICO CITY and TEHRAN
Curated by: Hugo Vitrani
Associate curator: Fabien Danesi
Scenographer: Olivier Goethals
Venue: Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Date: June 21 – September 8, 2019
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist, ©Palais de Tokyo and the respective copyright holders
The exhibition City Prince/sses is presented as an imaginary, multiple and complex city, without borders, messy, staggering and creative: an unpredictable laboratory, which is always in motion and being (re)constructed. Visual artists, creators, fashion designers, experimenters, tattooists, musicians: a good fifty artists are presented without any geographical grouping, mostly via new productions and in situ interventions.
DHAKA, LAGOS, MANILA, MEXICO CITY and TEHRAN are expressions of a tissue of contradictions, as seen in their saturated traffic which coexists with digital networks which supposedly work fluidly. Quite clearly, these megacities are very different from one another. Their cultural, political and social singularities teem with numerous narratives which are all side-tracks providing glimpses into their identities, devoid of anything that could be univocal.
Between skyscrapers and shacks, urgency and patience, megacities are undergoing a chaotic expansion, mingling transfers of capital with technological connexions in financial centres, generating urban margins with numerous inequalities. This vast, disorderly movement transforms cities into ceaseless work sites, favouring imaginary deviations. The artists which then emerge are thus the flâneurs of the 21st century, the hackers of our responses to an urban environment which is often functional and standardized.
Raw and head-spinning hangings, mysterious landscapes, luminous or opaque zones, backrooms and traps: the presentation of the show has been conceptualised by the architect Olivier Goethals, according to the rhythms of day and night, from profusion to desaturation, alternating between monographic zones and terrains for encounters. He has elaborated an architectural pathway which reveals and accentuates the lines of force in the building, which is here being envisaged as an immense common area.
Fernando Palma Rodríguez, Coyote Inalienable, 2013, Photo : Marc Domage
Fernando Palma Rodríguez, Techpactia tlen quipanoz ipan Milpa Alta? Do you likewhat is happening in Milpa Alta?, 2011, Photo : Marc Domage
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Ha.Mü (Abraham Guardian et Mamuro Oki), Collection : Mama! Mama! I feel quaint, 2018, Courtesy de Wilmark Jolindon, Photo : Marc Domage
Biquini Wax EPS, Sa la na, a yuum, iasis, laissez faire, laissez passer, 2019, Photo : Marc Domage
Leeroy New, Aliens of Manila: Balete Colony, 2019, Photo : Marc Domage
Leeroy New, Aliens of Manila: Balete Colony, 2019, Photo : Marc Domage
Leeroy New, Aliens of Manila: Balete Colony, 2019, Photo : Marc Domage
Leeroy New, Aliens of Manila: Balete Colony, 2019, Photo : Marc Domage
Ndidi Dike, Trace: Transactional Aesthetics, 2015, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Britto Arts Trust, El shohor, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Leeroy New, Aliens of Manila: Balete Colony, 2019, Photo : Marc Domage
Amir Kamand, Untitled, 2019, Photo : Marc Domage
Amir Kamand, Untitled, 2019, Photo : Marc Domage
Amir Kamand, Untitled, 2019, Photo : Marc Domage
Walls : Zombra, Untitled, 2019, Banner : Emeka Ogboh, Billboard, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Farrokh Mahdavi, Untitled (Scarps work), 2008 – 2019 & Untitled (Fa/Ma.C.Fa/Ma.9712.01), 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Farrokh Mahdavi, Untitled (Scarps work), 2008 – 2019 & Untitled (Fa/Ma.C.Fa/Ma.9711.01), 2019 & Untitled (Fa/Ma.C.Fa/Ma.9712.04), 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Mamali & Reza Shafahi, Daddy’s sperm, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Mamali & Reza Shafahi, Daddy’s sperm, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Lulu, Exhibition view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo, (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo: Aurélien Mole
Kadara Enyeasi, Série “L’ouverture : Fauna I”, 2019, Photo : Marc Domage
Mamali & Reza Shafahi, Daddy’s sperm, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Maria Jeona Zoleta, Possessed Projxxx Presents: Happy Hours!! Smelly Flowers!!!! Marshmallow CottonCandy Microsluts Aqua-Cheeze(Curlzzz) Sweetcyclone SmileySpaghetti //BabyBabybabybrixx///paradise forlyfe/extralyf//afterlife !!! [fromthefirstdayoftherestofmylife& Urs2] Channeling Cheap Creamycologne Spellcasting by Kreepeemummyklownkraze691989 »» Or dirty I.Scream, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Maria Jeona Zoleta, Possessed Projxxx Presents: Happy Hours!! Smelly Flowers!!!! Marshmallow CottonCandy Microsluts Aqua-Cheeze(Curlzzz) Sweetcyclone SmileySpaghetti //BabyBabybabybrixx///paradise forlyfe/extralyf//afterlife !!! [fromthefirstdayoftherestofmylife& Urs2] Channeling Cheap Creamycologne Spellcasting by Kreepeemummyklownkraze691989 »» Or dirty I.Scream, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Maria Jeona Zoleta, Possessed Projxxx Presents: Happy Hours!! Smelly Flowers!!!! Marshmallow CottonCandy Microsluts Aqua-Cheeze(Curlzzz) Sweetcyclone SmileySpaghetti //BabyBabybabybrixx///paradise forlyfe/extralyf//afterlife !!! [fromthefirstdayoftherestofmylife& Urs2] Channeling Cheap Creamycologne Spellcasting by Kreepeemummyklownkraze691989 »» Or dirty I.Scream, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Stephen Tayo, Série / series Ibeji, 2017 – 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Wall : Shishir Bhattacharjee, Daag tamasha, 2019, Sculptures: Ha.Mü, Mama! Mama! I feel quaint, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Wall : Shishir Bhattacharjee, Daag tamasha, 2019, Sculptures : Ha.Mü, Mama! Mama! I feel quaint, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Chelsea Culprit, Transfigurations in ritual time, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Chelsea Culprit, Transfigurations in ritual time, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Chelsea Culprit, Transfigurations in ritual time, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Tala Madani, Man in Cape, 2008 ; The Audience, 2018, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Mehraneh Atashi, Flotsam, Jetsam, Lagan and Derelict, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Mahbubur Rahman, Time in a Limbo, 2014 – 2015 (photogramme), Photo : Aurélien Mole
Ndidi Dike, National Grid, 2015-2016, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Doktor Karayom, Isla Inip, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Doktor Karayom, Isla Inip, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Doktor Karayom, Isla Inip, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Doktor Karayom, Isla Inip, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Amir Kamand, Untitled, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Manuel Solano, Aves de Paraiso, 2019 ; Untitled 1, série Hommage à Pompon, 2019 ; Untitled 2, série Hommage à Pompon, 2019 ; Untitled 3, série Hommage à Pompon, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Top : Mohammad Shoaib, Jhorer Pakhi (Stormy Bird), 2019, Bottom : Tercerunquinto, Arqueología del muro político. Palimpsesto de estudios preliminares. Obra para sitio, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Top : Timmy Harn, Cyber D3vil X ahas, 2015, Bottom : Tercerunquinto, Arqueología del muro político. Palimpsesto de estudios preliminares. Obra para sitio, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Luciano Calderon, Verdad 11, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
David Griggs, MANILA STRANGE #1 & #2, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Top : Traición, Polenchos, 2015 – 2019, Bottom : Justin Shoulder, Ex Nilalang: Lolo Ex Machina, 2015 ; V, 2011 ; Ex Nilalang : From Creature ~ From Creation, 2017, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Justin Shoulder, Carrion, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Justin Shoulder, La manutention , 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Justin Shoulder, La manutention , 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Justin Shoulder, La manutention , 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Justin Shoulder, La manutention , 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Justin Shoulder, La manutention , 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Justin Shoulder, La manutention , 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Justin Shoulder, La manutention , 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Justin Shoulder, La manutention , 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Dex Fernandez, Garaparty People, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Aderemi Adegbite, Metropolis Affection, 2012 – 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
From left to right : Hoda Kashiha, A Complex Guy, 2019 ; Hoda Kashiha, Untitled, 2019., Photo : Aurélien Mole
Pow Martinez, Border Patrol, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Pow Martinez, Border Patrol, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Foreground : Fernando Palma Rodríguez, view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo (21.06 – 08.09.2019), background : Stephen Tayo, Série / series Ibeji, 2017 – 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Fernando Palma Rodríguez, Techpactia tlen quipanoz ipan Milpa Alta? Do you likewhat is happening in Milpa Alta?, 2011, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Foreground : Fernando Palma Rodríguez, view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo (21.06 – 08.09.2019), background : Stephen Tayo, Série / series Ibeji, 2017 – 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Fernando Palma Rodríguez, view of « City Prince/sses », Palais de Tokyo (21.06 – 08.09.2019), Photo : Aurélien Mole
Emeka Ogboh, Lagos State of Mind, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Tercerunquinto, Arqueología del muro político. Palimpsesto de estudios preliminares. Obra para sitio, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, Macho Sentimental Vol.2, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, Macho Sentimental Vol.2, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, Macho Sentimental Vol.2, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Foreground : Manuel Solano, Untitled 1, série Hommage à Pompon, 2019 ; Untitled 2, série Hommage à Pompon, 2019 ; Untitled 3, série Hommage à Pompon, 2019, Background : Manuel Solano, Aves de Paraiso, 2019 , Photo : Aurélien Mole
Manuel Solano, Oronda, 2018 , Photo : Aurélien Mole
Biquini Wax EPS, Sa la na, a yuum, iasis, laissez faire, laissez passer, 2019, Photo : Aurélien Mole
Fernando Palma Rodríguez, Coyote Inalienable, 2013, Photo : Marc Domage