Voyage Voyage at Maison de L'Amérique Latine

There's a marvelous exhibit going on now at Maison de L'Amérique Latine called "Voyage Voyage" - it's all about the experience of being a traveler, from the perspective of Latin artists around the world, traveling the world.

The space itself is gorgeous - a grand, chandeliered space between Musée Rodin and Musée D'Orsay where conferences, exhibits and political events are held.

The exhibit's introductory message muses that traveling is a choice, a rite of passage, "To discover, meet, or experience of otherness, to take the necessary distance to another understanding of the world. To stretch time to let the unexpected arise. Resisting efficiency, cost-effectiveness. From necessity or obligation, to run away and lose time."

Two of my favorite pieces were this pseudo-map of the world, created from pieces of degraded painted wall and pinned up, by Leyla Cárdenas:

... as well as a photograph of the vastness of the ocean and an illustration by Francis Alÿs to show the extremely roundabout way he traveled from Tijuana, Mexico to San Diego, California.

And don't miss the exterior art as well - the façade of the gallery is enclosed in a neon work repeating an actual advertisement from 1914 seeking men for "a perilous journey, low wages, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, uncertain to return alive," but with "honors and recognition if successful." Sounds like a job for a badass to me!

Voyage Voyage

FREE

Now through April 28th

Maison de L'Amérique Latine

217 Boulevard Saint-Germain (7e Arr.) 

01 49 54 75 00

Métro: M12 to Solférino