Contemporary art billboard advertisement at Palais de Tokyo
Tokyo Palace Anita Molinero Fill This Hole 2018 polystyrene extruded metal fur dimensions
Latvian young artist Daiga Grantina Allemand; foi.epatant 2018 installation
Paris Municipal Modern Art Museum Mohamed Bouroissa horse day 2015 diptych color sound video installation 13 min 39 sec
Paris Monnaie de Paris Subodh Gupta Very Hungry God (Dieu insatiable) 2006 structure and utensils stainless steel
French video artist Pierrick Sorin Dreaming Audience 2007 film decor 2015
Sheila Hicks la sentinelle de safran 2018
Stephane Dafflon ne1972 AST 304-322 cheque 125X65cm 2018 acrylique sur toiles
Kader Attia - We Cannot Imprison Thoughts 200x350cm 2018 each anti-riot barriers and stones 9

Text and photos by Chen Chi-Hsiang. Returning to the art capital means bathing in Paris’s contemporary art. In one week, I spent five days fully satisfyingly sweeping up all the major and minor exhibitions currently showing in Paris into my eyes and my contemporary art image database. Day 1 prioritized Palais de Tokyo and Musée National d’Art Moderne (Paris). This year’s theme is “Dissonant Seasons: Girls of the Night,” featuring three large exhibitions: “My Enemy’s Enemy,” curated by young African artist Neil Beloufa; “One and Another,” curated by two artists Kader Attia & Jean-Jacques Lebel; and “Famous Warlords in Japan,” a joint exhibition by young French artist George Henry Longly with the Guimet Asian Museum. These all revolve around war-related issues, carrying messages of the current era.

Day 2: I went to report on the opening day of the “Subodh Gupta Retrospective” at Monnaie de Paris, clearly showcasing the striking local value and significance under today’s globalization. I also strolled through several galleries near the Fine Arts Museum. Kamel Mennour is a gallery I frequent often, currently hosting a solo exhibition by mid-career French artist Claude Leveque titled “Blue Dawn.” Another space features Monaco-based female artist Latifa Echakhch’s small doll installation and painting solo exhibition titled “Figures.”

Day 3: I visited the Marais district, checking out all the classic galleries from Centre Pompidou to near the Picasso Museum. Among many kitschy exhibitions, worth mentioning is seeing a museum-level “Post-New Media Art Exhibition after Nam June Paik Video Art” at a new W Gallery.

Day 4: The entire afternoon was immersed in the Sheila Hicks special exhibition “Lifelines” at Centre Pompidou. The American artist living in Paris also has a monumental work showing at Musée National d’Art Moderne (Paris); she previously had grand exhibitions at Palais de Tokyo and Parisian galleries three years ago. There is also a solo exhibition by South African photographer David Goldblatt, documenting social contexts under apartheid and today’s transitional justice. Inside the museum, there is a gift exhibition of Jim Dine’s “Paris Affirmation” donated to Centre Pompidou Modern Art Museum. On the sixth floor, the special exhibition “Russian Avant-Garde Artists in Vitebsk” features modern art icons—famous painters Chagall, Lissitzky, and Malevitch—with a propagandistic tone toward the Soviet Red Revolution.

Day 5: I went to le Plateau, the Contemporary Art Center of Greater Paris in North Paris, for Swiss young artist Stephane Dafflon’s solo exhibition “U-25A6,” seeing how possible contemporary geometric abstraction can be. Fortunately, it was the last day—it did not disappoint me. One Saturday afternoon, I went again to MAC/VAL in the southern district of Paris, where popular Franco-Algerian artist Kader Attia is holding his solo exhibition “Roots Are Like Nails Hammered into Concrete Walls,” rooted in deep post-colonial thinking, indicating that we cannot imprison thought. In this sea of art life, prioritizing contemporary art, I tirelessly continue to track developments.