L'Usage des Formes: a new outlook on what is considered art

On Saturday night, a few of us went to the Palais de Tokyo for La Nuit Européenne des Musées. This was a night in which more than 1300 museums in France, 3400 in Europe, were open for free to the public during the later hours of the night. I originally wanted to go to the Grand Palais but we ended up going to Palais de Tokyo which was a good choice because I probably would not have thought of going there by myself. The Palais de Tokyo is a relatively new museum compared to others in Paris. Created in 2002 this museum houses modern and contemporary art and in fact three years ago it became one of the biggest places devoted to the contemporary art scene in Europe. This museum is located in the 16^th arrondissement near the Seine with a great view of the Eiffel Tower near the side entrance.

This museum was interesting and eclectic to say the least. It definitely contrasted the other museums that we visited here in Paris in the aspect of what is considered art. At the Louvre and the D’Orsay museum you had an idea beforehand of what you expected to see. Renaissance art, realism, impressionism, Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, Cezanne; all are names that we recognize and attribute to our conception of art. When going to the Palais de Tokyo I had no idea what to expect. In fact the entire time we were there I still had no idea what was going on or what it was that I was actually seeing.

I grabbed a pamphlet through our walk through one exhibit, L’Usage des Formes, and did not have the chance to read it until now. This gave a new meaning to the art pieces that I saw and how they express a common theme throughout the entire collection. This exhibition consisted of 150 objects that illustrate the relationship between artists and the tools that they use. Ordinary things that we would not consider as art are transformed into art when placed in the museum and given contextual meaning next to other utilitarian                                                                   objects. 

One sculptor, Nathanael Le Berre, whose work is displayed in this exhibition said: “Je cherche des formes abstraites, ce que je veux avant tout c'est créer des émotions.” Tools that normally just have a purpose for utility become a vessel to express emotion. The human hand was a big concept in this collection of art because it is through our hands that we use these tools and interact with our surrounding environment. “L'outil, grâce à la main, c'est ce qui permet de transformer la matière et de passer de l'état de nature à l'état de culture," said exhibition curator Gallien Déjean. Some of the other exhibits were equally thought provoking and gave me a new outlook on the many aspects that embodies art.