Press release
Michel Paysant
Exhibition
November 26, 2009–
March 1, 2010
Sully Wing, Colbert Hall,
Salle de Consultation, De-
partment of Near Eastern
Antiquities
Exhibition curator: Marie-Laure Bernadac,
Curator in Charge, Special Advisor on Con-
temporary Art, musée du Louvre, assisted
by Pauline Guelaud.
This exhibition was organized in collabora-
tion with C2RMF, Giancarlo Faini, Research
Director, Christian Ulysse, Engineer, Labora-
toire de Photonique et de Nanostructures
(LPN) of the CNRS, Michel Bouriau, Re-
search Engineer, Laboratoire de Spec-
trométrie Physique (LSP) and Université
Joseph Fourier (Grenoble).
Sponsored by JEOL, Nikon and Jardins de
Gally.
OnLAB is a research project funded by the
Délégation aux arts plastiques of the French
Ministry of Culture and Communication.
Music : Pascal Doumange
Visitor information
Place
The works are presented in the Salle de
Consultation of the Department of Near
Eastern Antiquities, Sully Wing
Hours
Open every day except Tuesdays, from 9
a.m. to 6 p.m. Evening hours on Wednes-
days and Fridays until 10 p.m.
Admission fees
Access to the exhibition is included in the
purchase of an admission to the museum’s
permanent collections: 9; 6 after 6 p.m.
on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Further information:
www.louvre.fr
Communication
Aggy Lerolle
aggy.lerolle@louvre.fr
.
OnLAB
Drawing inspiration from architecture, art history and especially
archeology, the exhibition presented by Michel Paysant is a
reflection on the original and its copies, the object and its virtual
image. Blending art and science, OnLAB speaks to the rediscovery of
ancient works and their dissemination to contemporary museum
audiences.
Michel Paysant tests the limits of our appreciation of a work at the level
of our retinal perception. For this exhibition, the artist has collaborated
with researchers from the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des
Musées de France (C2RMF) from the LPN of the CNRS and from the
LSP to present an examination of a cylindrical seal from the collections
of the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, one of the smallest and
most astonishing sculptures held at the Louvre.
Michel Paysant exhibits, on a support he has designed himself, a four-
meter-long modello of the cylindrical seal together with micro- and
nano-sculptures, some of them invisible to the naked eye. The micro-
and nanosculptures are copies of masterpieces from the collections of the
Louvre’s Department of Near Eastern Antiquities and of palace floor
plans. On the wall, diagrams and photographs of these nano-objects as
well as scanned images round out this examination at the intersection of
art and science. For the artist, if the Louvre is to exist in the year 3000,
the faith of visitors in technology must be encouraged.
In it’s fictional and functional dimension, the installation try to
scenograph the invisible and the the imperceptible.
This exhibition links the work of museum curators and researchers from
the partners laboratories with the concerns of a contemporary artist in
relation to collaborative practice, archiving, museology, the status of
works of art, and the contribution of new technologies.
Nano-fabrication : Tchatal Hüyük Nano-fabrication : Panneau décoratif en briques
© OnLAB - Michel PAYSANT / G. FAINI and moulées, SUSE
C. ULYSSE, LPN-CNRS © OnLAB - Michel PAYSANT / G. FAINI and
C. ULYSSE, LPN-CNRS
Presse relations
Laurence Roussel
Phone : +33 (0)1 40 20 84 98 / Fax : 84 52 / laurence.roussel@louvre.fr
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