Video artist Laure Prouvost creates poetic installations in which images leave the screen to meet the viewer through objects, sculptures and materials. Her language is dreamlike, evoking surrealist imagery. It also subtly suggests the values dear to the artist: the celebration of life and its transformations, the fluidity of everything that links us, human beings, to our equals, to our predecessors, to the environments we inhabit, to flora and fauna.

For her carte blanche at the Mucem, the artist drew inspiration from a number of objects discovered in the museum's storerooms, breathing new life into them and taking them on a journey of magic and metamorphosis, in a sensory celebration of life and the stories that weave it.

To this end, the artist has continued his exploration of glasswork and underwater photography, creating an original video with snorkellers in the calanques of Marseilles.

Her works - created specifically for the exhibition - will be shown in places usually inaccessible in Fort Saint-Jean. The public will be invited to take a stroll through the fort's walls, where they will be treated to a host of heritage and artistic surprises. Visible from the Old Port, a sculpture-whirligig installed at the top of the King René Tower will mark the exhibition. From the chapel to the casemate, near the montée des canons, via the exhibition room overlooking Fort Saint-Jean, visitors will discover three other monumental and spectacular installations, in which everyday objects, sometimes evocative of the Mediterranean, its fauna and its flora, will be displayed.

Flora will appear, disappear or metamorphose according to the visual and poetic magic tricks devised by the artist.

Curated by Hélia Paukner, Heritage Curator, Head of Contemporary Art, Mucem
With the collaboration and loans of Studio Laure Prouvost, Brussels

Laure Prouvost

Laure Prouvost was born in Croix-Lille (59) in 1978 and trained at Central Saint Martins and Goldsmiths College in London. She now lives and works in France, Belgium and the UK. In recent years, she has established herself as one of the most recognised artists on the international contemporary scene. In 2019, she represented France at the 58e  Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art. Her works are shown and conserved in the world's most prestigious museums.

Cirva

The International Glass and Visual Arts Research Centre (Cirva) is an art centre that places creation at the
heart of its project. Occupying a unique position on the world stage since 1983, it invites artists and designers
to work with a precise material, glass, in an atmosphere of total freedom. At the Cirva’s studio, they are met
by a team of very high-level glass technicians with whom a dialogue begins. This exchange unfolds over the
course of time, through repeated visits. It is instrumental in allowing the artists to undertake bold experiments
during which unlimited avenues of thought encounter a material with a complex and unpredictable reputation.
The Cirva holds a collection including more than one thousand items, documenting the various creative
experiments undertaken with the artists, who donate specific pieces to the association at the end of their
collaboration. The Cirva has always sought to share the creative experiments being conducted in its studio
through various partnerships and loans for exhibitions and events held at other institutions. In the studio, the
Cirva is committed to share its activities with the public during open house days.

The Cirva is a non-profit association, recognized for general interest, which has been supported since its
creation by the Ministry of Culture / regional directorate of cultural affairs Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, by the
City of Marseille, by the Sud Paca regional council and the Bouches-du-Rhône departmental council