FRANCE

In the fully-renovated French Pavilion, the figure of Saturn is evoked as an emblem of melancholy and creation, weaving together myth, language, and textile practices. Visitors move through spaces occupied by curtains, mechanical devices, and transformed materials, where light shapes and erodes surfaces. Here, the devoré velvet technique – a textile technique which dissolves parts of fabric to reveal patterns resulting from intact fibres – becomes a generative gesture. The project by Yto Barrada – known for her investigations into cultural phenomena and historical narratives – explores cycles of loss and regeneration, creating a space in which wear and transformation become forms of poetic resistance. 

Featured image: Untitled (After Stella Large II) – Four Times Casablanca II (Centrifuge),
Untitled (After Stella 1) – Four Times Casablanca I (Centripetal)
Installation view from Bad Color Combos, Stedilijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2023
Courtesy the artist, Pace Gallery, Sfeir-Semler Gallery and Stedilijk Museum