The Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain presents an exhibition that brings together the work of three artists: Alessandro Mendini, Vincent Beaurin and Fabrice Domercq. Although they are of different generations and backgrounds, these artists share an approach that cuts across the boundaries separating traditional genres and disciplines. Shifting between the realms of design and art, they create objects that are both thought-provoking and rich in poetic significance.
These three artists have chosen to entitle their exhibition Fragilisme, a term that designates an aesthetic project based on the fragile and transitory nature of all things, and a common working method founded on the ability to see weakness as strength. Alessandro Mendini is responsible for the design and layout of the entire exhibition that is presented throughout the Fondation Cartier, as well as in its gardens.
Using the entire exhibition spaces of the Fondation Cartier, Fragilisme brings together architecture, painting, sculpture and design. It is full of surprises, with frequent confrontation and interplay between the different works and modes of presentation. The artists play with ambiguity, sowing confusion where it might be tempting to give clearly definitions. They set up ratios of scale and space amidst a riot of colors and materials as contrastingly various as Mendini's mosaics, Beaurin's polystyrene sculptures and Domercq's pieces in cotton. One is quickly persuaded that true fragility is not always where one would expect.