TANK ZOOM TALK: Laure Prouvost & Greg Hilty & Stephanie Chow

On Saturday 23 January 2021, TANK Shanghai invited artist Laure Prouvost, Greg Hilty, the curatorial director of Lisson Gallery, and Stephanie Chow, writer and art critic for a Zoom Talk, which was live streamed on Zai-Art app in real time, and followed by over 6500 viewers in total.
The talk started with the past and upcoming projects of Laure Prouvost, who was in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the installation of her work at the upcoming group exhibition "MOTHER" at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. The shared element of octopus in "MOTHER" and "Deep See Blue Surrounding You / Vois Ce Bleu Profond Te Fondre," her project for the French Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019, led to Laure’s fascination on octopus, a reoccurring motif whose symbolism plays a considerable role in her works.
The metaphorical needs of an octopus to touch and feel things triggered the conversation on tactility and tangibility. The guest speakers moved on to the topic of the exhibition making, which is becoming increasingly virtual in the context of the global pandemic. Laure explained the challenges that she was faced with as an artist to install her works at exhibitions without being able to be physically present in the exhibition spaces. Stephanie, who was the only guest speaker of the talk who had visited the "More, More, More" exhibition in person at TANK Shanghai, shared with the other two guest speakers her experience as a visitor, as well as her observation of the audience’s experience and reactions to Laure’s works.
Deeper was one of the 5 works that Laure presented at TANK Shanghai. Placed in front the imposing tapestry Behind the lobby doors, the paper is in the right eye, Deeper is a HD video work presented in the format of a monitor on leveler, with the screen facing the floor. Laure Prouvost repeats in the video, “I wish this video was going deeper, deeper. This video was deeper, deeper. I wish this monitor would go in, deeper, deeper…”
The reflection of the screen on the terrazzo flooring allowed the audience to glimpse Laure’s hands in a repeating gesture of pushing the video, the monitor screen, the floor, as well as the boundaries between the artist and the exhibition venue, deeper and deeper. The concept of deep led to effervescent discussions about deep travel, dream, subconsciousness, language, humour, and trompe-l’œil in Laure’s practice. The discussion continued as the three guest speakers talked about Laure’s other works at TANK Shanghai-If It Was, Going Higher, and Into All That Is Here, and they ended the talk with their thoughts on TANK Shanghai and the "More, More, More" exhibition.
Read more about the talk: mp.weixin.qq.c...