Philippe Parreno

Philippe Parreno is a renowned contemporary artist and filmmaker whose work has captivated audiences around the world with its innovative and immersive approach to art. Philippe Parreno delves into the concept of how systems of representation and memories converge to generate meaning. His artistic practice encompasses collaborations with prominent artists such as Pierre Huyghe, Liam Gillick, and Rirkrit Tiravanija.

The artist has been part of the 57th Venice Biennale (2017) and the 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016).

Biography of Philippe Parreno

Philippe Parreno was born in 1964 in Oran, Algeria, and grew up in Grenoble, France. He began his artistic journey by attending the École des Beaux-Arts in Grenoble before relocating to Paris to pursue further studies at the Institut des Hautes Études en Arts Plastiques, located at the Palais de Tokyo.

In June 2006, Universal Pictures released a full-length documentary co-directed by Philippe Parreno and Scottish artist Douglas Gordon titled "Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait."

In 2007, Philippe Parreno directed and co-curated, alongside Hans Ulrich Obrist, a group exhibition titled "Il Tempo del Postino" (Postman Time) for the Manchester International Festival. The exhibition was subsequently presented at in 2009.

In 2012, Philippe Parreno embarked on a collaborative project with artist Liam Gillick titled "To the Moon via the Beach." The title itself conveyed the evolving nature of the work and hinted at a transformative journey. Upon entering the exhibition, visitors were greeted by an area covered in tons of sand. Over the course of four days, skilled sand sculptors shaped this sandy terrain into a lunar landscape, providing a dynamic backdrop for a series of 22 artists' projects.

In October 2013, Philippe Parreno made history as the first artist to take over 22,000 square meters of gallery space at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris with his exhibition "Anywhere, Anywhere Out of the World." 

In 2014, Philippe Parreno engaged in a distinctive collaboration with several artists and curators, including Tino Sehgal, Liam Gillick, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Asad Raza, and Pierre Boulez, in which he also assumed a curatorial role. This collaborative effort resulted in the exhibition titled "Solaris Chronicles," hosted at the LUMA Foundation Arles Campus.

Philippe Parreno's significant exhibitions include presentations at notable venues such as HangarBicocca in Milan (2015), Park Avenue Armory in New York (2015), CAC Malaga (2014), Barbican Art Gallery in London (2013), Fondation Beyeler (2012), Philadelphia Museum of Art (2012), The Serpentine Gallery in London (2010), and Witte de With (2010), among many others.

Parreno's artworks are part of the collections at renowned institutions such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, to name a few.

Philippe Parreno's Art Style and Art projects

Philippe Parreno produces artworks that probe the boundaries separating reality from fiction, employing diverse media, including sculpture, drawing, film, and performance. Frequently, he incorporates interdisciplinary elements into his exhibitions, reshaping the conventional dynamic between the viewer and the artwork.

During the late 1990s, Philippe Parreno collaborated with French artist Pierre Huyghe on the creation of "No Ghost Just a Shell" (1999–2002). This project revolved around a manga character named AnnLee. Parreno and Huyghe acquired the copyright to AnnLee's images and transformed her into a three-dimensional character featured in a series of videos. Through these videos, AnnLee engaged in discussions regarding the various yet interconnected facets of her existence, including her role as a work of art, a female character, and a commodity.

"Dancing around the Bride" (2012): At the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Parreno assumed the role of an orchestrator, using the artworks of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Marcel Duchamp to evoke the concepts of time and motion.

"The Bride and The Bachelors" (2013): Presented at the Barbican in London, this exhibition featured a diverse sequence of Parreno's meticulous orchestration, incorporating live and pre-recorded sound elements from the works of Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp, intricately woven together with live dance performances.

"H {N)Y P N(Y} OSIS": This exhibition took place within the monumental interior of New York's Park Avenue Armory's Wade Thompson Drill Hall. Parreno's immersive experience combined elements of film, sculpture, and the ethereal presence of sound and light to engage and captivate the audience.

"Anywhen," Philippe Parreno's solo exhibition at Tate Modern's Turbine Hall in 2016, featured an installation comprising helium-filled fish balloons suspended throughout the space. These aquatic elements were complemented by a score crafted by Nicolas Becker, a longstanding collaborator of Parreno, and composer Cengiz Hartlap. Additionally, a mobile spotlight was created in collaboration with Liam Gillick to enhance the overall immersive experience.

"La Quinta del Sordo" (2021): Exhibited at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Parreno's forty-minute audiovisual work employed advanced technology to recreate the ambiance of Francisco Goya's house, known as the Quinta del Sordo. This recreation was based on a 3D computer model that Parreno meticulously crafted of the architectural space, and it was showcased alongside the room housing Goya's iconic "Black Paintings."