The Masters of Disorder
Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France
Completed in 2010-2012
Client
Musée du Quai Branly, Paris
The exhibition design, conceived by the firm Jakob+MacFarlane for the exhibition *Les Maîtres du Désordre*, outlines and structures a large tubular space divided into sections that showcase the various artistic themes. This space takes the form of a system into which visitors are drawn, immersed, and then propelled out at the end of the journey. It is a true experiment and an introduction for the public through an exploratory journey. The exhibition design highlights the different worlds, sets the pace for the public’s discovery of the works, and creates a dynamic progression that guides and moves the viewer through an open circuit, unfixed in time or space. An initiatory journey that invites the viewer to explore varied themes and undergo a personal transformation as the journey unfolds. This transformation is made possible not only by the exhibition’s conceptual content but also by the exhibition design.
The exhibition designers proposed a project based on the simplest building material, often left unfinished and “raw” to evoke a world of intentions, ideas, and positions in perpetual evolution.
Composed of a steel structure covered with gypsum plasterboard held in place by twine, this construction becomes, through its materials, a true organic body with a skeleton, ligaments, and skin. The manufacturing method and installation are both traditional and contemporary, manual and industrial, affirming the idea of a project that could always be in the making…
The lighting atmospheres are also an integral part of the exhibition. Jakob+MacFarlane chose to play on the raw appearance and assertive presence of the light fixtures. Vortex fixtures were thus installed in the central cell, where electrical cables can be seen hanging from the ceiling. They evoke the connection between the earthly and the beyond, the profane and the sacred, the tangible and the intelligible.
Jakob+MacFarlane’s intention is to highlight the artworks and immerse the viewer in an experience of light and materiality, creating different atmospheres and emotions throughout this journey. The scenographic design contributes to the project, its meaning, and its evolution.