For Le monde comme il va the Korean artist Kimsooja has covered the floor of the rotunda of the Bourse de Commerce with mirrors, turning its magnificent glass dome into a reflective abyss, thereby making it one of the most Instagrammable spots in Paris. The studio, at the lower ground floor, presents another work by Kimsooja, "A Needle Woman" (1999-2000), which shows Kimsooja filmed from behind standing in the middle of a busy street in Tokyo, Shanghai, Delhi and New York. I remember being mesmerized when I first saw it at the 2005 Venice Biennale and I enjoyed seeing it again.
Le monde comme il va (The World as it Goes) is one of the most interesting exhibitions I’ve seen at the Bourse de Commerce so far. “Old People’s Home” (2007) by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, which features life-size puppets of politicians and religious leaders slumped in electric wheelchairs, is hilarious and timely. It is shown against the backdrop of “Circus Figures” (2005) by Sigmar Polke and Ghost Ball (2023) by Salman Toor, which make for a perfect pairing.
Another room brings together works by Jeff Koons, Damian Hirst and Robert Gober. As Alain Badiou once commented, since the 1990s art has become equated with “culture”, love has become “sexuality”, science has become “technology” and politics “management”. The works gathered here can be seen both as an example of the commodification of art and as a critique of its commodification. The same goes for “Dino” (1993) by Bertrand Lavier, a crashed Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 on an immaculate plinth, which is presented in another room against the backdrop of a painting from 2022 by Anne Imhof, which shows the smoke and dust clouds of an explosion.
With works by Damian Hirst, Jeff Koons, Anne Imhof, Christopher Wool, Wolfgang Tillmans, Marlene Dumas and Cindy Sherman among others, Le monde comme il va showcases some of the hottest names in contemporary art.
Le monde comme il va is at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris through 2 September 2024.
