Street Artist JR at the Paris Opera: Back to the Cave
Retour à la Caverne - Acte II, 12 November 2023, 21h22, Chiroptera, Palais Garnier, Paris, France, 2023 (c) Image courtesy of Paris Opera
According to his website, French artist JR has the largest gallery in the world - the world itself. Born in Paris in 1983, JR started as a teenage graffiti artist. Today, the renowned “urban artivist” (artist and activist) exhibits his photographic collage works free of charge on the walls of the whole world, from France to Brazil, Africa and the Middle East, reaching people who would usually don’t go to a museum. He is also celebrated for eye-catching, thought-provoking installations at famous buildings including the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Farnese Palace in Rome.
JR at the Paris Opera: Back to the Cave
The old building of the Paris Opera, the Palais Garnier, is currently being restored. As part of the restoration, the Paris Opera has invited JR to decorate the scaffolding covering the iconic building with two successive installations. His installation “Retour à la caverne“(Back to the Cave) for the Paris Opera has two acts. JR’s starting point is the idea that art was born in the cave. Act I of the installation was on display throughout September 2023: “L’entrée de la caverne” (The Entrance of the Cave) played on the idea that the origins of ballet and opera go back to songs and dances performed in caves to celebrate the divinities of archaic Greece. Walking up the Avenue de l’Opéra, people faced an entrance to an enormous cave covering the scaffolding of the Opéra.
On 12 November 2023, the public was invited to attend two free performances celebrating the opening of act II, “Dans la caverne” (Inside the Cave). Throughout November, the installation covering the scaffolding invited passers-by to look inside a giant grotto covered with human handprints. For two months, participants had been invited to learn to embroider their own handprints, which were then placed on the cavern walls, picking up the idea that the cave was the birthplace of cave art, and thus of art.
Chiroptera: Bats in Chanel
JR invited choreographer Damien Jalet to create a dance performance to music by Thomas Bangalter for 153 dancers and Amandine Albisson, principal dancer of the Paris Opera Ballet for the opening of act II on 12 November 2023. Jalet’s “CHIROPTERA” (Bats) is an impressive spectacle of human bats in a giant cave – and this being Paris, they are of course dressed in Chanel (Chanel designed the costume for Albisson and supported the design and fabrication of the remaining costumes). Check out the stunning result for yourself!