Johan Jacobs / théâtre royal de la Monnaie, Bruxelles © William Kentridge, courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery »

Event

Opéra Monde. La quête d’un art total

Exhibition | Opéra et arts visuels aux XXe et XXIe siècles

Centre Pompidou-Metz

from 22 June 2019 to 27 January 2020

Opéra Monde. La quête d’un art total

Centre Pompidou-Metz - from 22 June 2019 to 27 January 2020

Synopsis

For the first time on such a scale, the exhibition “Opera World” offers an in-depth examination of the history of opera in the 20th and 21st centuries from the angle of its relationship with the visual arts. Exploring these often fruitful and sometimes impassioned dialogues, the project shows how artists – some totally unfamiliar with the world of the stage – have influenced the course of opera history through scenographic creations as spectacular as they are varied. Revealing a lesser known aspect of these interactions, it will also shed light on opera’s impact on the creations of visual artists: the sensorial, aesthetic and sometimes political power that this total art inspires in numerous contemporary artists. From Ernest Klausz’s stage design for Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust in 1933 to the legendary Tristan und Isolde by Bill Viola in 2005, the exhibition spotlights some of the emblematic productions that have marked the history of the Paris Opera.

Media

  • Opera at the heart of everyday life

    Opera at the heart of everyday life

    Watch the video

© Bernd Uhlig / OnP

Opera at the heart of everyday life

Watch the video

An encounter with Stéphane Roussel

6:14 min

Opera at the heart of everyday life

By Cyril Pesenti

The Centre Pompidou-Metz, in partnership with the Paris Opera, is presenting the exhibition “Opera World: the quest for a total art” until January 27 2020. Stéphane Roussel, the exhibition’s curator, explores the confluence between opera and the visual arts in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Between tension and resonance with the concept of Wagnerian total art, plunge into the essence of an aesthetic heritage that has always been prone to question the genre.

Partners

L’exposition Opéra Monde témoigne de la rencontre entre les arts visuels et le genre lyrique depuis le début du XXe siècle. De Richard Wagner aux productions scéniques les plus récentes, elle propose un voyage dans le monde de l’opéra. Présentant des maquettes, costumes, éléments de scénographie, autant que d’imposantes installations et de nouvelles créations, le parcours, qui mêle images et sons, explore ces grands échanges entre l’art et la scène. Œuvre d’art totale, où tous les sens sont convoqués, l’opéra sert également de terrain de revendications sociales et politiques. Opéra Monde tente de restituer cette capacité envoûtante à émouvoir et émerveiller, tout en montrant comment l’opéra constitue finalement un symbole de liberté, et de nouvelles utopies à partager.

Stéphane Ghislain Roussel commissaire de l'exposition Opéra Monde 


Centre Pompidou-Metz

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