Exhibition - From Toumaï to Sapiens

To evoke the Mediterranean, means summoning up the extraordinary history of the many great civilisations shaped on its shores over the centuries. But it also means facing up to its future, which is more uncertain than ever. The various pressures associated with its use, population growth, pollution and global warming are all threats to its future, global warming are all threats to its unique biodiversity and ecosystem services.This brand new immersive and interactive exhibition "Méditerranée 2050" aims to encourage visitors to the Monaco ‘s Oceanographic Museum to take a new interest in the Mediterranean and become involved in its protection, through a space-time journey to 2050.

Faced with the unknown (illness, death, tomorrow), rituals are a way of organising chaos, of "knowing what to do", of dispelling fear and confronting trials. How does one move from the profane to the sacred? What meaning is given to everyday gestures? What role do shamans, healers and priestesses play? What objects serve as mediators in these exchanges between humans and gods: fetishes, masks, cult statues? What is the diversity of these practices, and what are their common threads? What is the history of magical rituals, their foundation, their raison d'être? How can we understand the precise meaning of gestures that are repeated and passed down from generation to generation, from master to initiate, from father to son?

Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) was the first painter to focus not simply on landscape, but on Nature, which he did with lyricism and increasing sensitivity over the course of his career. Given that Poussin founded a school, something of this ‘feeling for Nature’ was passed on to the generations that followed, for example, in the works of Gaspard Dughet and Claude-Joseph Vernet. But what of today? Although ecological worries are a major concern for our societies, are there any artists who still depict nature elegiacally? It is our aim to show that yes, indeed there are, by bringing together, on each of Villa Paloma’s floors, classical paintings with all manner of contemporary works: sculptures, installations, photographs, videos, films, paintings and drawings. And while these pairings for the most part represent a Franco‑Italian exchange, though not exclusively, they do so as a tribute to Poussin, who, though French, spent most of his career in Rome.The exhibition is in six sections – Storms and Nights; Forests and Gardens; Seascapes and Waterfalls; Deserts and Volcanoes; Mountains; Flowers and Butterflies – each offering a different perspective on what during Antiquity was called miracula naturae … the marvels of nature.With works by Roger Ackling, Robert Barry, Anne-Lise Broyer, Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Christo et Jeanne-Claude, Thomas Demand, Gustave Doré, Gaspard Dughet, Latifa Echakhch, Tim Eitel, Ed van der Elsken, Ilse et Pierre Garnier, Nan Goldin, Andreas Gursky, Suzanne Husky, Mimmo Jodice, Pierre Joseph, Ange Leccia, Pierre Lesieur, Charles de Meaux, Fausto Melotti, Mario Merz, Sarah Moon, Giulio Paolini, Claudio Parmiggiani, Bruno Pélassy, Giuseppe Penone, Nicolas Poussin, Anting Qiu, Walter Robinson, Torbjørn Rødland, Anne Laure Sacriste, Christophe Sarlin, Pierre Thoretton, Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, Joseph Vernet, Marine Wallon…The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Humboldt.Curated by Guillaume de Sardes Exhibition design: Christophe MartinImage: Nicolas Poussin, Landscape of Grottaferrata: Landscape with River God / Venus and Adonis (detail) Oil on canvas  75 × 199 cm Musée Fabre, Montpellier Méditérranée Métropole, Inv. n° 825.1.171 – Photo Frédéric Jaulmes