Open Space #16 Tabita Rezaire - "Des/astres"

Free access with a ticket for the "David Hockney, 25" exhibition. Download the exhibition brochure and the interview with the artist.

Originating at various megalithic sites, this series of films explores their astronomical links to address the connections between Earth and Sky. While the first work – Mamelles ancestrales (2019) – explored Senegambian stone monuments to understand our relationships with the dead, the second – Orbit Diapason (2021) – presented a reflection on the existence of extraterrestrial life from a South African megalithic site.  

The third chapter – Des/astres – examines humanity’s desire to go beyond the earth and commune with the invisible. This new film was shot on the Guiana Plateau in the Amazonian rainforest and unfolds in four chapters – forest, water, stone, sky –, each offering a unique way to connect with the cosmos. Stone circles, tall trees and water spirits become technologies of cosmic exploration, much like the rockets from the Guiana Space Centre hurtling toward space. Testimonials gathered from tradition-keepers, shamans, astrophysicists and researchers shed light on the ancestral heritage of a land in which, through a constellation of perspectives, popular beliefs coexist with scientific theories. 

Le troisième chapitre – Des/astres – examine, quant à lui, le désir de l’humanité d’aller au-delà de la terre et de communier avec l’invisible. Tournée sur le plateau des Guyanes dans la forêt amazonienne, ce nouveau film se déploie en quatre chapitres — forêt, eau, pierre, ciel — chacun offrant une façon singulière de se connecter au cosmos. À l’image des fusées du Centre Spatial Guyanais s’élançant vers l’espace, les cercles de pierres, les grands arbres ou encore les esprits de l’eau deviennent autant de technologies d'exploration cosmique. Les témoignages recueillis auprès de gardiens de traditions, de chamans, d’astrophysiciens et de chercheurs révèlent l’héritage ancestral d’une terre où, à travers une constellation de points de vue, les croyances populaires cohabitent avec les théories scientifiques. 

For the presentation of this film, the artist has designed a “planetarium hut” (a carbet), inspired by Amazonian vernacular architecture. As "Des/astres" is projected on the underside of the hut’s domed roof, viewers are invited to lie down in hammocks, hand-woven in keeping with the Kali’na and Lokono traditions, for a journey between sky and earth. In today’s context of ecological crises and the acceleration of technological innovation, “Des/astres is an invitation to bring the universe into oneself, to remind us of the power of the original mystery”.

Claudia Buizza and Ludovic Delalande (Fondation Louis Vuitton). 

Open Space #16 Tabita Rezaire “Des/astres” is the artist’s first solo exhibition in a Paris institution.

Tabita Rezaire. Des/astres, 2024, has been commissioned and co-produced by Fondation Louis Vuitton and TBA21. The work was presented at Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, as part of the exhibition Calabash Nebula.

Open Space is a program dedicated to contemporary art, offering the possibility of a first solo exhibition and the production of a new work.