Palais de Papes is hosting an immersive exhibition of Eva Jospin’s enchanting cardboard sculptures and sets this summer, forging a new dialogue with the history and architecture of the former pontifical residence.
The medieval Avignon landmark is the largest gothic palace in the world and hosts its annual ‘Great Exhibition’ every summer. For this year’s edition, Parisian artist Jospin brings her whimsical and elaborate cardboard sets and sculptures to several of the palace’s historic spaces, including its vaulted chapel.
Using cardboard, Jospin crafts detailed architectural sculptures and immersive sets that explore the connection between the natural and built environments. Within her works, gothic towers, arches, and columns blend with cardboard-created geological formations, caves, and vines. The simplicity of the material adds to its charm.
‘We are in a stone chapel, we know that these stones have been extracted from a quarry, we know where it comes from,’ Jospin told French public broadcaster France Info. ‘It’s the same for cardboard, which is rare today in the world that “we consume.”‘
Jospin plays with this idea of ‘knowing’ by revealing the sculptures’ material and experimenting with its form within the 12 artworks, many of which were created especially for the exhibition.
In the Grande Chapelle’s grand vault, ‘Côté Cour, Côté Jardin’ offers a peek ‘behind the scenes’ of theatrical set design. In French theatre, ‘Côté cour’ means the right side of the stage, while ‘Côté jardin’ means the left. This concept is embodied in the sculpture, featuring a scenographic layout upfront and a cave-like landscape of interlocking cardboard rocks and branches at the rear, nodding to the backstage work.
Also on show are Jospin’s intricate and elaborate embroidered panels, developed as runway backdrops for Christian Dior’s F/W21/22 shows. At 30 metres in length, ‘Une Chambre à Soie’ adorns the walls and ceiling of the Grand Tinel and harks back to the great medieval European embroidery traditions, reinterpreted as vegetable and mineral motifs.
Jospin’s having a busy summer: in addition to her Great Exhibition in Avignon, she also has a solo show running at Galleria Continua’s San Gimignano space in Tuscany.
The Great Exhibition: Eva Jospin is a ticketed event running at Palais des Papes until 7 January 2024.
