Philippe Parreno: Synchronicity

This catalogue for Philippe Parreno’s first solo show in mainland China reveals the artworks presented in the exhibition. The exhibition, “Synchronicity,” is dedicated to Xavier Douroux, director and co-founder of the art center Le Consortium in Dijon, whose influence on Parreno’s career cannot be overstated.

Over the past twenty years, Parreno has radically redefined the exhibition-visiting experience by exploring its possibilities as a medium in its own right. The exhibition has altered the building’s current existence through an unexpected use of time, space, light, and sound to become a semi-automated puppet, a perpetual motion of events in which Parreno subverts the conventions of the gallery space. Parreno will guide visitors through a constantly evolving area by manipulating light, shadow, and duration. The catalogue testifies, with a rich collection of photos, the involvement of visitors in this interaction between the artist’s work and the architectural structure of the museum.

The curator, Larys Frogier, states: “Parreno invites visitors to engage with contradictory notions of the physical, emotional, and conceptual. He blurs the distinction between reality and fiction to create an all-encompassing world of endless possibilities”. Frogier has also contributed a poem, “Vision,” in this volume, echoing Parrreno’s artistic research.