For its 26th edition, the PAD Paris, a not-to-be-missed event for historic and contemporary design, was held from 3 to 7 April 2024 in the Tuileries gardens. We’ve fallen in love with this exhibition which, among other marvels, made way for the infinite, with its nods to mirrors, kaleidoscopes and the cosmos.
Mirrors in the spotlight
Several galleries presented mirror works.
Averted from its primary use, the mirror is a 1st step towards infinity. Mirrors are always a good idea, whether you’re looking to reflect a beautiful room or environment, to discreetly camouflage a room, or to enlarge a space and even make it infinite, depending on the number and arrangement of mirrors used.
Here are just a few of the galleries that have given pride of place to this timeless accessory:
- La maison parisienne presented a wall of 15 mirrors created by 15 of its artists.
- La galerie Chastel Maréchal made mirrors the focal point of its stand, with a range of different-sized “sun” mirrors, a mirror with a frame made of… a mirror, a folding screen with mirror panels, and a marble table with mirrors around the base and legs.
- Damien Tison’s gallery also gives pride of place to reflections, whether on the wall, on a table or even on a beautiful staircase.
- On other stands, a bench and some armchairs are trying to disappear thanks to this mirror effect, and the effect is such that we wonder if this camouflage isn’t also a great way of showing them off.
Kaléidoscopes in the spotlight
As a reminder, a kaleidoscope is “a small tube whose bottom is filled with moving fragments of coloured glass which, when reflected off a set of mirrors, produce infinite combinations of symmetrical patterns”.¹
On the Opéra Gallery stand, infinity is discovered through the play of mirrors, but in a completely different way, integrated into a design object: a banner. What could be more symbolic than a bench to admire a view? In public gardens, along seafront promenades, at viewpoints marked on tourist maps, you’ll always find a bench to sit on and contemplate the landscape, the horizon.
The bench by British-American artist Anthony James (truncated Cube bench) catches our eye and carries us off into an infinity of finely crafted glass, steel and LED structures.
The effect is stunning, and the sensation of the infinitely large and the infinitely small is overwhelming!
The room disappears. There’s no sense of emptiness as you plunge into infinity.
Through his bench with its “caléidoscoped” viewpoint, Anthony James helps us to understand the universe as a learned architecture.
On the way to Cosmos
Béatrice Serre has revolutionised the art of ceramics, improvising herself as a goddess of the cosmos.
Presented by Galerie Gastou in a scenography by Joy Herro, the setting for this exhibition “Cosmosaïque” puts you straight into the mood: a temple with 30 pillars houses 30 numbered jewellery boxes by the artist, symbolising her 30 years of creation. At the heart of this temple resounds a Stellar Crystal.
The silver lids of the 30 boxes are adorned with turquoise, lapis lazulli, copper and meteorite gemstones.
To achieve these creations, Béatrice Serre works with minerals like no one else. While she borrows certain cutting and assembly techniques from the ancient Greeks and Byzantines, for the rest she is a veritable goddess of the cosmos, innovating and working the material in the same way as the elements on the planet or the stars in the sky.
She creates works that come from the cosmos, tell the cosmos and represent the cosmos.
A change of scenery guaranteed.
¹ Définition du dictionnaire Le Robert
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