Fat, skinny, tall, small, young, old, healthy, sick, sometimes darling, often the subject of numerous complexes… For its new exhibition in 2024, the MAIF Social Club has decided to tackle one of the most intimate subjects there is: the body. Through a selection of works as confusing as they are fascinating, each person returns in their own way to what the body represents in what is individual, but also universal. A free exhibition, to discover until January 4, 2025.
The body in all its forms at the MAIF Social Club
Generally defined as the material part of an animated beingin opposition to its immaterial part which would be the spirit or the soul, the body has always been the subject of many questions, whether on its nature, its function, its way of contributing to the construction of our identity or its representation in different cultures and societies. How does the body contribute to our sense of identity? How does the body give meaning to our environment? ? What is its role in the institution of emancipatory, racial, feminist, social and ecological struggles? A whole bunch of questions to which the new exhibition of the MAIF Social Club will try to answer.
Nicolas Guiet, MDLR, 2024 © Jean-Louis Carli / MAIF
Next to 14 international and multidisciplinary artists whose works are divided into 4 subtly linked parts, curator Nawal Bakouri tries to introduce us to several ways of understanding the body. And the good news is that unlike many contemporary art exhibitions that are sometimes difficult to approach, that of the MAIF Social Club aims to be accessible and understandable by all (even the smallest ones).
First we go exploring the anatomical bodyhome of all our ills and scale of our relationship to the world, before discovering it as Source of our singularities and our identity. The exhibition then shows us the body as a motion vector, capable of modifying our perception of the world, before finally bringing us to become one, in a final part dedicated to the collective.
5 works not to be missed Let’s make Body
sChairs and Bounce station from smarin studio
We start the exhibition with a little warm-up ! Sitting on a chair made of an elastic band wound on a metal structure, a video invites us to get us moving like a fitness class, without even getting up. A way for the artist to take an ironic look at the world of work which creates a sedentary lifestyle and psychological pressures, and makes well-being at work an injunction until it becomes completely absurd.
smarin, sChairs and Bounce station2015-2017 © Jean-Louis Carli / MAIF
The Curious and Human II d‘Élisabeth Daynès
The palm of the most disturbing work of the exhibition undoubtedly goes to paleo artist Élisabeth Daynès. It will probably take you a few seconds – if not a few minutes – to realize that this man examining, very still, the 3D painting located right in front of him is actually… a statue. A hyperrealism taken to its extreme which leaves us just as fascinated as this sculpture seems to be and which invites us to question our own identity. No wonder Élisabeth Daynès is exhibited in the most prestigious museums in the world.
Elisabeth Daynes, The Curious and Human II © Jean-Louis Carli / MAIF
The wonderful world of abstraction by Jacob Dahlgren
It won’t take you long to give in to the irresistible urge to immerse yourself in the middle of this cloud of colorful ribbons falling from the ceiling. By inviting us to melt our bodies into his work, Jacob Dahlgren wishes make abstract art accessible to all, an artistic movement of the 20th century which got rid of the representation of bodies. Everyone can then feel their own disappearance in favor of materials, lines and colors, existing for themselves. A work that may well awaken your inner child.
Jacob Dahlgren, The wonderful world of abstraction2024 © Jean-Louis Carli / MAIF
Lean on me (Burt and Hillary) of Daisy Collingridge
Headliner of the exhibition, Daisy Collingridge’s work explores the anatomical properties of the human body, exaggerating the flesh and its members. Here, we discover two beings with disproportionate bodies, leaning against each other : the first comes to rest on the other, who waits and welcomes the rest of his comrade with tenderness and hospitality. A production full of sensitivity and tenderness which makes us forget the nevertheless striking strangeness of the silhouettes in front of us.
Daisy Collingridge, Lean on me (Burt and Hillary)2021 © Jean-Louis Carli / MAIF
Contacts by Scenocosme
If you came alone, the next installation will require you to build connections with other visitors : Contacts is none other than an interactive work inviting visitors to a bodily and tactile experience. To make it work, you will need to touch the ball located in the center of the room, and in turn engage in physical contact – such as holding your hand or touching your nose – with another person. At that moment only, the work activates and lets out a certain sound and a certain color. Each touch then causes variable sounds and lights, influenced by the electrostatic energy that is released from this interaction. The more participants there are, the more it intensifies. A way to create connections in unexpected ways and bring us together, exchange and stimulate our imaginations.
Scenocosm, Contacts2009 © Jean-Louis Carli / MAIF
A program free for all
Far from being a simple exhibition space where the visitor has their own experience, the MAIF Social Club invites us to take part in different visit formats. For example, you can take a taste tour (€7), during which you will be taken to taste culinary reinterpretations of works from the exhibition (new dates to come in September), a musical visit to the sound of Clara Germont’s cello or even a visit told by two women of unparalleled talent. But our little favorite is still for the “glitter” visits, hosted by a collective of drag queens as zany as they are fascinating.
Apart from visits, the MAIF Social Club also made a point of offering us a varied cultural program to discover the body in all its forms. From April 18 to 20, for example, we find the actor Yacine Sif El Islam in Sola gratia: Abuse Ia powerful monologue during which he tells, with his whole body, the homophobic attack he suffered a few years earlier. From June 6 to 8, there are two shows inspired by the writings of Annie Ernaux, The place And A womanwhich will be played at the cultural center.
For lovers of soul and r’n’b, a sound system of the album A Seat at the Table by Solange Knowles is organized on April 27. The opportunity to discover this masterpiece that talks about cultural appropriation, and which notably denounces the appropriation of black bodies by white people. On May 23, a conference by Camille Froidevaux-Metterie and Philosophy Magazine addresses the condition of women through philosophical conceptions of the body: Should we politicize the intimate?. Finally, from May 30 to June 1, we dive into an immersive experience during which you enjoy a massage at the same time as we listen to testimonies, headphones on, with Sound bodiesan installation also proposed as part of Nuit Blanche 2024.
The MAIF Social Club store
As always, the MAIF Social Club opens the doors to us its responsible store, available online and in person. On the program: a range of original and eco-responsible creations, for young and old, such as wooden games, travel diaries, reusable accessories or even natural treatments to take care of your body (you might as well stay on the theme until the end). For example, we love Radish Gang’s carrot face mask, made from 99% ingredients of natural origin, vegan and made in Franceor for this nourishing and repairing multi-use balm 100% natural and vegan. And for those who would like to become true traveling works of art without going through the needle box, we also find something to make temporary tattoos while having fun with the Nailmatic x Minus Éditions Tattoo Challenges kit.
© Jean-Louis Carli / MAIF
Let’s become one
MAIF Social Club
37, rue de Turenne – 3rd
Until January 4, 2025
Free admission
TikTok and Instagram
More informations
