STARDUST OR THE LAST FRONTIER at MAC/VAL until January 13th, 2008

On October 4 2007, Mac/Val inaugurated its new exhibition at Vitry-sur-Seine :
"Stardust or the Last Frontier"
about representations of the sky and the stars, self-image and images of the beyond. "Sputnik 1, the first man-made satellite, was launched at Baikonur on October 4, 1957" noted the two curators with a grin.

Mac/Val's fall exhibition "Stardust or the Last Frontier" (until January 13 2008) proposes a journey into space that, through the imagination of some forty-odd artists, becomes a "mirror of the world". Alexia Fabre (chief curator of the museum) and Frank Lamy (director of temporary exhibitions) have selected approximately sixty works that perfectly complement the permanent collection display, entitled Being Present in the World. Our gaze is lifted to the beyond, so as to better refocus on ourselves.

Frank Lamy adds: "Skies, planets, stars, the Milky Way, constellations, satellites, supernovas, the Big Bang, black holes, space-time, rockets, and astronauts are all protagonists of this saga. It's an attempt to describe the Beyond, and thus also the human condition. It's about fiction, masks, creating an image, but also about power, conquest, colonialism, and identity..."
The exhibition includes never-before-seen works by young French artists represented in Mac/Val's permanent collection - including Jacques Monory, Serge Guillou, Bernard Moninot, and Melik Ohanian - alongside works from other artistic scenes, including Great Britain, Canada, and Switzerland (see preliminary list below).

" Stardust or the last frontier " emphasizes the universality of its theme, allowing the viewer to question the idea of proper scale and to reflect on the self and its relationship to the world. Although the topic is a serious one, the two curators, in keeping with the museum's mission, have deliberately emphasized different levels of interpretation, ranging from a light-hearted view of formal representation to fundamental metaphysical questioning. They offer the audience a personal experience, a type of personal projection, and paid close attention to the educational materials of the exhibition.

List of artists in the exhibition:
Guy Allott, Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil, Nicolas Baier, Gilles Barbier, Neal Beggs, Davide Bertocchi, Pascal Broccolichi, Etienne Chambaud, Claude Closky, Tony Cragg, Julien Discrit, Erró, Sylvie Fleury, Claude Gassian, Trevor Gould, Serge Guillou, Andreas Gursky, Vincent Lamouroux, Roberto Martinez, Philippe Mayaux, Paul McDevitt, Jorge Méndez Blake, Aleksandra Mir, Joachim Mogarra, Bernard Moninot, Jacques Monory, Olivier Mosset, Nicolas Moulin, Melik Ohanian, Roman Ondák, Bruno Peinado, Didier Rittener, Gwen Rouvillois, Thomas Ruff, Stéphane Sautour, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Bridget Smith, Wolfgang Tillmans, James Turrell, Jean-Luc Vilmouth, Mark Wallinger, Jane & Louise Wilson, Jordan Wolfson.


Mac/val
www.macval.fr
Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne
Place de la Libération
94404 Vitry-sur-Seine cedex

contact
e-mail: contactmusee@cg94.fr
tel: +33 (0)1 43 91 64 20
fax: +33 (0)1 43 91 64 30

ADMISSION FEES:
Full price: 4 euros
Concessions: 2 euros - groups (min. 10 people)
Cine-concert: 6 euros - concessions: 4 euros
Cinema: 4 euros - concessions: 2 euros

by car:
From the Porte de Choisy, follow the Nationale 305 road to the Carrefour de la Libération in Vitry-sur-Seine. Sculpture by Jean Dubuffet.

by metro:
Line 7 (direction Mairie d’Ivry) to Porte de Choisy then take bus n° 183 (direction Orly Terminal Sud) to Moulin de Saquet-Pelletan.

By train:
RER C to Vitry-sur-Seine station then take bus n° 180 (direction Villejuif-Louis Aragon) to Moulin de Saquet-Pelletan.