In Marseille, a spectacular exhibition transforms the Mucem into a circus ring

Sound, light and animated images bring to life this Mucem exhibition designed by a guest artistic director: the director and director Macha Makeïeff, who directed the La Criée theater in Marseille from 2011 to 2022. “Once the show finished, sets collapsed, marquees dismantled, props in a pile, costumes smoking, we, troupe members, on the bare stage, the deserted stage, the abandoned dressing room, we are stateless people. Body and soul, agrees the artistic director. Things and us, the same acrobat destiny.”

Guided by Vincent Giovannoni, the chief curator responsible for Performing Arts at Mucem, Macha Makeïeff drew extensively on the treasures of the Marseille institution. Three circular tracks, a parade podium, stands, a dressing room and a cinema welcome objects and works of art grouped into successive sketches. The eye cannot focus on this or that work in particular as the pieces collide. On the other hand, a general atmosphere is gradually born, joyful, dynamic, welcoming, even if sometimes nostalgia and melancholy are not far away.

The route takes place in thematic spaces (the dressing room, the beast artists, the puppets, etc.) and in sets dedicated to personalities such as the contortionist Chester Kingston, the three Fratellini brothers or the dancer Little Tich, who inspired Michael Jackson with his Big -Boot Dance. From Honoré Daumier (Marseille obliges!) to Georges Rouault, works of modern art punctuate each space. Don’t miss the small wall dedicated to Alfred Jarry and Ubu Roi, whose first appearance was in a puppet show.

Many contemporary artists have been invited by Macha Makeïeff. The painter Gérard Traquandi, for example, created 32 watercolors on the circus theme especially for the occasion. Pierrick Sorrin features himself in a video, Gérard Garouste exhibits his fairground monsters, Miquel Barcelo disguises himself as Pinocchio. Bravo for the two large canvases by Félix Deschamps Mak which open and close the exhibition with their poetic and touching characters, reminiscent of those in Toulouse-Lautrec’s canvases for La Goulue.

At the center of the stage, the grand parade allows you to admire the costumes of Gérard Vicaire who, in the 1960s, took over from his parents who made embroidered handbags and stage costumes enhanced with sequins. Vicar becomes a specialist in light clothing for clowns. Preserved in the Mucem reserves, these embroidered costumes stand alongside some rarities such as the costume of a young lady by Chout (1921) by Mikhail Larionov or the cubist costume design (1926) by Serge Tchekhonin.

The strongest moment of this very beautiful exhibition staging remains the presentation of the portrait of Joaquin Salvado in a Harlequin costume, painted by Picasso. It is placed on a wooden theater among the Commedia dell’Arte costumes hanging on the hangers and a stone’s throw from the circus trailers. Macha Makeïeff achieves a spectacular mise en abyme and a very poetic evocation, coupled with a perfectly museum-like distancing.