MAMAC Presents Immersive New Shows by Artists Thu-Van Tran and Caroline Trucco
This summer in the South of France, MAMAC (The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nice) unveiled Thu-Van Tran’s “We live in the flicker” and Caroline Trucco’s “Oui, mais des mots étendards.” Both are currently on view through October 1.
Curated by Director of MAMAC Hélène Guenin, Tran’s large-scale exhibition marks the artist’s inaugural museum monograph in France, and presents a poetic journey through Franco-Vietnamese culture and the fragility of our natural and spiritual ecosystem. Curated by Rébecca François in collaboration with Palais Lascaris, Trucco’s multisensory show imparts a vivid investigation of West African culture and a search for personal and collective identity.
Exhibition view of Thu-Van Tran’s “Viva Arte Viva” at the Venice Biennale, © Thu-Van Tran/ADAGP Paris 2023, photo by the artist, courtesy of MAMAC.
Thu-Van Tran Reveals a Dialogue of Truth Through Art at MAMAC
From her powerful installation at the 2017 Venice Biennale, to holding a coveted place as a 2018 nominee for the Marcel Duchamp Prize, Tran’s mythical creations span film, sculpture, painting, and photography, revealing the mesmerizing evolution of nature through the personal, the political, and the mythological.
Installation view of Thu-Van Tran at MAMAC, ©JcLett, courtesy of the artist and MAMAC.
The title of the artist’s latest endeavor draws from her own notable series of works which utilized the spirited phrases of Polish-British writer Joseph Conrad’s In the Heart of Darkness (1899-1902) for a collaged interpretation of language and enchantment. The exhibition follows a scintillating sequence of chapters: At dawn, sow; At midday, expose and burn; and At dusk, forget, mutate and narrate. Each invites visitors into a lyrical prism of heritage, suffering, and healing through seared and scarred bodies and natural landscapes, and enlightening sculptures such as the ethereal casts of “weeping” tree trunks.
Caroline Trucco, “Moi, un noir” 2017-2023; © Adagp, Paris 2023, courtesy of the artist and MAMAC.
Caroline Trucco Explores West African Narratives and Artifacts at MAMAC
Born in Nice, Trucco skillfully combines her experience in the conservation of African ethnographic objects at the Ecole Supérieure d’Art d’Avignon with studies in art, anthropology, and scenography, culminating in her embodiment of a passionate storyteller, fusing photography, film, and artifacts to offer a tender narrative of exotism and emancipation. Inspired by creative voices such as Marielle Macé, Édouard Glissant, and Jean Rouch, Trucco experiments with symbolism, politics, and documentation to envelop visitors in a space both historical and fantastical, brimming with emotion. Return to Homeland (2017-2023), a cutting-edge presentation of African objects, statuettes, and masks on steel storage racks, labeled with inventory numbers, spotlights problematic Western display codes and interrogates the means of artifact collection. Trucco’s stimulating works of art deftly lift hidden narratives out of the darkness and into illuminating light.
Caroline Trucco, “Poétique de la résistance : Bons baisers de Vintimille (Poetics of resistance: Good kisses from Ventimiglia,” 2016-2018; © Adagp, Paris 2023, courtesy of the artist and MAMAC.
