At Villa Medici, in Rome, through September 25 is BAD TIMING Théo Mercier.
A Villa Medici fellow, artist and filmmaker Théo Mercier returns ten years later to this place that marked a decisive turning point in his artistic career to present BAD TIMING.
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Théo Mercier
Théo Mercier was born in Paris in 1984. He trained as a sculptor, painter and photographer, and in his works he mainly uses the technique of collage and ready-made.
Bad Timingis developed within the indoor and outdoor spaces of Villa Medici.
Bad Timing: cars
A Villa Medici there are cars, swooping down on the forecourt as birds from wounded bodies emit the last breaths of a hardly audible music radio.
Along with cars, bronze chairs can be glimpsed melting in the sun here and there in the building.
All these sculptures left to their own devices, abandoned or crushed between the weight of a heavy stone and the suction force of a helium balloon stretched toward the zenith, represent an enigma whose solution lies in the interior spaces of Villa Medici.
The Palaces of Memory
Moving into the exhibition rooms leading to the ancient cistern, Théo Mercier solves this same conundrum by drawing on the ancient tradition of the Palaces of Memory. The sculptures he invites into this paradoxical memory space are hybrid structures of used appliances and amputated marble sculptures from the Villa Medici collections.
This new series of borrowed sculptures, bound with different shibari techniques, expresses the artist’s sadism and pleasure in dealing with the opulent vestiges of the past and the post-industrial remnants of contemporary chaos.
If you are also interested in all the other must-see 2023 exhibitions in Rome, Venice, Naples, Turin, and Milan, we recommend our in-depth reviews:
Venezia: mostre da vedere nel 2023
Mostre a Napoli: quali vedere nel 2023
Mostre a Milano 2023: le cinque imperdibili
