Expo Chambord, 2021

In the face of major political crises, wars, repression of freedom, vandalism, natural disasters, what do works of art mean to us? What are we willing to do to protect a masterpiece? These questions are at the heart of the exhibition Displacements by Canadian artist Dominique Blain, which will be held from November 21, 2021 to March 13, 2022 on the second floor of the château.

Around an imposing central installation, Monuments II, Displacements brings together video works, a luminous glass sculpture and photographs linking the fate of endangered works and that of humanity. Conceived and produced by the Canadian Cultural Center in 2019 for its gallery in Paris, the exhibition was subsequently presented at the Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré in Tours in 2020. The Château de Chambord gives it a whole new dimension here, as the artist’s works, always inspired by archives, take place in the very place that housed the masterpieces of many French collections, in particular those of the Louvre, during the Second World War. The exhibition thus dialogues with Chambord 1939-1945, “Saving a Little of the World’s Beauty,” the monument’s new permanent galleries that visitors can discover on the terraces.

Dominique Blain’s works are presented today because they raise issues that are still relevant today, those of the destruction of the world’s heritage, while at the same time confronting us with the importance of the duty of memory for the projection of our future humanity. Through her work, the artist also raises to the status of universal works the old documentary photographs of her fellow photographers.

Curator: Catherine Bédard

Associate Curator: Ami Barak