PARIS.- In Autumn 2017 Palais de Tokyo gives its entire exhibition space to Camille Henrot (born in Paris in 1978, lives in New York) for the third installment of its series of cartes blanches exhibitions, which began in 2013 with Philippe Parreno and continued in 2016 with Tino Sehgal. The carte blanche offered to Henrot — winner of the Silver Lion at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013) as well as the Nam June Paik Award (2014) and the Edward Munch Award (2015) — is an occasion to discover the ever-expanding fields of inquiry that influence her idiosyncratic sculptures, drawings, video and installations.

The exhibition explores the ways in which the invention of the seven day week structures our relationship to time. It reveals the way the notion of the week reassures us — giving us routines and a common framework — just as much as it alienates us, creating a set of constraints and dependencies.

Titled “Days are Dogs,” in reference to the expression for the sultry days of summer (“dog days”), the exhibition has been divided into seven thematic parts, each dedicated to a day of the week. Viewers will experience works that reflect the emotions and activities associated with each day as they move from day to day. Using this structure to organize her exhibition, Henrot emphasizes the impact of the dependencies, frustrations, and desires that emerge while living through the rhythm of the week. The exhibition explores ideas such as submission and revolt, both on an intimate, personal level — the dynamic of sexual relationships, for instance — and on a larger social level, where sociopolitical, economic and ideological power is abused and suffered.

For her carte blanche, Camille Henrot brings together an extensive group of her own works along with contributions from international artists with whom she maintains a productive dialogue. The invited artists are David Horvitz, Maria Loboda, Nancy Lupo, Samara Scott, and Avery Singer. Additionally, Henrot invited poet Jacob Bromberg, who she has collaborated with on a number of projects in the past. At the Palais, Bromberg has written supplementary texts for the exhibition and produced an original work for the space.

Demonstrating the remarkable range of her artistic practice, Henrot presents mosaics, frescoes, and bronzes along with new works such as Saturday , her most important film since Grosse Fatigue (2013, Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale). Recent works conceived in anticipation of the carte blanche and exhibited in solo shows at the Fondazione Memmo (Rome, 2016), Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna, 2017) and in the 9th Berlin Biennale (2016) are also included in the show. Since the first presentation of Henrot’s now internationally recognised work in 2007, the Palais de Tokyo has consistently exhibited her artwork.

Camille Henrot is represented by kamel mennour (Paris/ London), König Galerie (Berlin), and Metro Pictures (New York).

Curator: Daria de Beauvais