Dominique Blain – Displacements
Temporary exhibition at the Domaine national de Chambord

Curator: Catherine Bédard
Associate curator: Ami Barak

From November 21, 2021 to March 13, 2022, the Domaine national de Chambord will host the exhibition Displacements by Canadian artist Dominique Blain, in the castle dungeon. This exhibition was conceived and produced by the Canadian Cultural Centre in 2019, and presented in 2020 at the Centre de création contemporaine Olivier Debré, in Tours.  

In view of major political crises, wars, repression of freedom, vandalism and natural disasters, what do works of art represent for us? And what are we prepared to do to protect a masterpiece?

The fate of artworks in times of conflict is once again a burning issue, one at the heart of Dominique Blain’s thinking.

Displacements is built around an imposing central installation, Monuments II, which revisits a major work produced at the turn of the century recalling how the masterpieces we admire were saved for us. It includes videographic works, a sculpture in luminous glass, and photographs, bringing together the fate of endangered works and the fate of humanity. Chambord Castele gives it a new dimension, as the artist’s works, inspired archival images, will be displayed in the very place that housed the masterpieces of many French collections, in particular those of the Louvre, during the Second World War. The exhibition thus dialogues with Chambord 1939-1945: « Sauver un peu de la beauté du monde », the Castle’s new permanent exhibition.

By associating the new permanent exhibition to Dominique Blain’s practice, Chambord creates a dialogue between history and contemporary thinking about the major and still-topical issue of safeguarding our shared cultural heritage during times of war.

Further info.