Animal Talks: The Great Animal Orchestra

Mexican architects Mauricio Rocha and Gabriela Carrillo directs the visual perspective of visitors through the glass open spaces of the Foundation Cartier with a scenography in terracotta brick that surrounds the garden. Combined with the foundation’s design by Jean Nouvel, this architectural arrangement symbolizes a symphonic orchestra.

Curated by Hervé Chandès, the show includes works by Agnès Varda, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Pierre Bodo, JP Mika, Moke, Cyprien Tokoudagba, and Manabu Miyazaki

A highlight of “The Great Animal Orchestra” is a drawing created by Cai Guo-Qiang displaying wild animals at the watering hole, a moment of serene moment of vulnerability. To create such an in-depth exposure, the artist juxtaposed violence against peaceful animals with the use of gunpowder as a medium. He drew the image with gunpowder and then lit it on fire to construct burn marks and smoke.

More works included in the show hold different perceptions of wild life, like the Amazonian birds painted on a ceramic wall by Adriana Varejão. Or the three-dimensional electronic installation that transfers data from Krause’s recordings into light particles, commissioned by the English collective United Visual Artists (UVA).

The exhibition is on view now through January 2017 in Paris.