PARIS.- During his solo performances, Abraham Poincheval pushes back his physical and mental limits. For him, life in autarky, enclosure, immobility or the progressive loss of senses are all means to explore human nature. As with the giant bottle, inside which Abraham Poincheval is going up the river Rhône against its current, the exhibition will bring together several habitations in which, or on which, he has lived for several days.

For his solo show at Palais de Tokyo, Abraham Poincheval has conceived two new performances. While testing out the artist’s body, they will lead him to experience the temporalities of the animal and mineral worlds. This show comes after the presentation of his habitable sculpture Ours (‘‘Bear’’) as part of the group exhibition Inside in 2014, and his performance Vigie / Stylite (“Lookout / Stylite”) as part of the Nuit blanche 2016, under the artistic direction of Palais de Tokyo.

For Abraham Poincheval (born in 1972, lives in Marseille), creation is quite literally an adventure. From 2001 to 2009, along with Laurent Tixador, he set about going on extreme, unheard-of expeditions: digging a tunnel, walking from Nantes to Metz as the crow flies, camping on the top of a building. Now a solitary explorer, he has crossed the Alps, dragging his makeshift shelter like a Sisyphean snail; or else accepted the challenge of living in autarky for several days, in closed or restricted spaces. His sculptures or log books report on his performances. His works and performances have in particular been displayed at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (2014), the Musée Gassendi, Digne-les-Bains (2014), the Criée Centre d’Art Contemporain, Rennes (2015), the Villeurbanne IAC and the FRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in 2016.

“It is through immersion in unusual environments and temporalities that Abraham Poincheval intends to roam the world. His experiences seem to derive from children’s dreams and projects. Despite all the logistical preparations for these expeditions, his performances leave open considerable room for the unexpected. They primarily consist in taking the test of time and adapting to the environments, the people, or the animals he encounters.” --Adélaïde Blanc

“I see time as being an inner, terrestrial journey. My approach means working out for myself what is going on in the world, a bit like Voltaire’s Candide .” --Abraham Poincheval

Curator: Adélaïde Blanc

A monographic book published by Palais de Tokyo is accompanying this show.