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The event is over
Du 15 September au 05 November 2023
As part of the restoration work at the Palais Garnier, the Opéra national de Paris has invited the artist JR to cloak the scaffolding covering the monument with two successive installations. In Act I, “The entrance to the cave”, starting from 6 September, JR will reinterpret the monumental façade of this high temple of music and dance. The decor reveals the entrance to an immense cavern opening onto a view of rock and light. The decor will change in November for Act II, “Mano Habilis”: the installation on the facade of the building will be transformed into a stage curtain, which you are invited to decorate!
Please come to the Gallery 15 minutes before the workshop begins
Places are no longer guaranteed after the workshop start time
From 15 September to 15 October 2023, Atelier Montex, le19M’s resident embroidery house, is teaming up with the artist JR to programme a free introductory embroidery workshop. Participants will contribute to a monumental installation designed by JR that will adorn the facade of the Palais Garnier in November 2023. The workshop is also a precursor to the Parcelle cultural garden project, due to open in spring 2024.
In line with the many projects carried out by Atelier Montex in collaboration with artists, designers, and creative venues, the Maison is renewing its invitation to try your hand at embroidery with a new project by the artist JR. Entitled MANO HABILIS, this participatory workshop involves the public, guided by the Montex embroiderers and a team of enthusiastic amateur embroiderers who will share their savoir-faire. It offers everyone the chance to take part in the creation of a monumental installation that will adorn the facade of the Palais Garnier for a spectacular show that will take in November 2023.
The artist, renowned for his approach inviting us to change our perspective on emblematic monuments around the world, will begin a visual metamorphosis of the Palais Garnier in the autumn with a two-act performance. After cloaking the facade in a photographic collage depicting a trompe-l’oeil grotto in September, JR will change the decor in November.
Interspersed with a multitude of metaphorical self-portraits—the handprints of the participants who came to embroider these imprints during their visit to the Parcelle in Paris/Aubervilliers—this monumental collective work will provide an interior view of the cave, the birthplace of cave art and of self-awareness.
At the end of the workshop, each participant will be able to have their photograph taken in one of the artist’s iconic photobooths, and leave with a black-and-white portrait and an embroidered handprint. The public will then be invited to visit la Galerie du 19M’s new exhibition, Carla Fernández. The future is handmade.
This workshop will launch the Parcelle project: a cultural garden conceived by le19M and its partners as part of a temporary occupation of the vacant site adjacent to le19M. Opening in spring 2024, la Parcelle will offer programming conceived by a collective of partner venues. The aim of the project is to contribute to the process of greening the city, while at the same time hosting a series of ambitious, multidisciplinary events focusing on contemporary creation, the natural world, and craft.
En savoir plusAbout
JR exhibits freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not typical museum visitors. From the suburbs of Paris to the slums of Brazil to the streets of Istanbul, JR pastes huge portraits of little-known people.
In 2011, after receiving the TED Prize, JR created Inside Out, a global participatory art project that helps communities make a statement by displaying large-scale black and white portraits in public spaces. As of September 2023, over half a million people from more than 150 countries and territories have participated in the project by creating their own installations or entering one of the Inside Out photobooths.
JR’s projects include a large-scale pasting in a maximum security prison in California, a TIME magazine cover about guns in America, a video mural including 1,200 people presented at SFMOMA, a collaboration with the New York City Ballet, an Academy Award nominated feature documentary co-directed with the French New Wave legend Agnès Varda, a huge installation on the Pantheon in Paris, a pasting on the pyramid of the Louvre, a monumental mural “à la Diego Rivera” in the suburbs of Paris, giant scaffolding installations at the 2016 Rio Olympics, an exhibition on the abandoned hospital of Ellis Island, a social restaurant for the homeless and refugees in Paris, and a gigantic installation at the US-Mexico border fence.
As he remains anonymous, JR leaves the space open for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/interpreter. That is what JR’s work is about, raising questions.
Atelier Montex is an embroidery house that offers its expertise to the biggest names in luxury Ready-to-Wear and Haute Couture, and is developing its activities in the field of decorative and ornamental projects. Founded in 1949, its unique artisanal techniques enable it to create masterful samples that combine tradition and innovation. Recognised as an Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant (Living Heritage Company) in 2013, Atelier Montex is full of highly modern embroidery samples that are both sophisticated and innovative. Since 2017, Aska Yamashita has been artistic director of Atelier Montex. She has extended the creative history of Montex by bringing in new influences, always driven by the highest standards of technical quality. Her knowledge of historic savoir-faire, her multi-faceted personality, and her daring sense of creativity constantly push the boundaries of the imagination and open up new directions in embroidery.
