Théo Mercier has conceptualised more than an ordinary art exhibition, The Ballad of Disaster, on view at Proyectos Monclova in Mexico City until April 17, allows the visitor to become an actor blending into the theatrical scenography and the sculptures, while exploring the exhibition. This comes from Mercier’s intention that his artwork stands in continual discourse with the surrounding space and its recipient, initiating a unique experience for art-lovers based on the concept of disaster – the main inspiration.
The exhibition starts by showcasing the central issue – a story of how society learns from disaster narrated by the artist and conveyed by a reflection on the instability in the world. Centring around disparate fossils, including found objects and stones, such as lapis lazuli, serpentine, onyx, and jade, the artist aims to convey the remains of his travels.
The Ballad of Disaster intertwines the artist’s fundamental disciplines: sculptural production and theatrical works. Throughout the art space, ideas of equilibrium and fragility, presence, constant movement are communicated, as well as oppositional ideas of the true and the false, the artisanal and the industrial. Constructed in Mexico, the exhibit consists of a theatrical piece, a cabinet of curiosities, a bodega, and a cross-cultural journey.
The Ballad of Disaster intertwines the artist’s fundamental disciplines: sculptural production and theatrical works. Throughout the art space, ideas of equilibrium and fragility, presence, constant movement are communicated, as well as oppositional ideas of the true and the false, the artisanal and the industrial. Constructed in Mexico, the exhibit consists of a theatrical piece, a cabinet of curiosities, a bodega, and a cross-cultural journey.
Théo Mercier's The Ballad of Disaster exhibition is currently on view at Proyectos Monclova
in Mexico City.
Théo Mercier, Every stone should cry, 2019. Exhibition view, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris. ©Erwan Fichou
Théo Mercier, Every stone should cry, 2019. Exhibition view, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris. ©Erwan Fichou
Théo Mercier, La cinquième saison, 2019. Exhibition view, Fonds Hélène et Edouard Leclerc, Landerneau. ©Erwan Fichou
