Exhibition - On the ruins of the Black Prince

It is in the guard room of the bloodthirsty Black Prince, located in the basement of the museum, that the artist Jean-Michel Othoniel
exposed. This medieval room, dating from 1369, is the only existing trace of a defensive work that the English conquerors, while fleeing, left unfinished. The creation of a work in situ, on the very site of the dramas of our history, can only question an artist whose work aims to re-enchant the world.

It is by celebrating past and present ruins and the reconstruction they call for that Othoniel escapes the darkness of time. Erasing criminal traces, hiding graves and the impacts of war, the artist offers a major work where his work on glass brick, begun more than ten years ago, here takes the form of monumental architecture. It evokes the ever-resurrecting hope and sacredness of life. As
emerging from a tomb of black glass, concretions of vertiginous mirror bricks soar towards the sky and defy weightlessness.

A black and luminous installation to warn us against the destructive prince who is in each of us. In the center of the room, as proof of hope, a small block of ruby-colored crystal remains vibrant like a glowing heart under the embers of our despair.

Show less