Photos: Laure Prouvost “Burrow Me” at Rupert

17/08/2015

- Laure Prouvost: Burrow Me -
Rupert, Vilnius
July 17 – September 6, 2015

Rupert is delighted to present Burrow Me, Laure Prouvost’s first solo presentation in the Nordic-Baltic region. In her work, Prouvost constructs immersive environments in which sculptures, videos and installations become central ploys in the re-enactment of unlikely scenarios of spatial and temporal impossibility and absurdity. In her videos, Prouvost employs tropes both derived from and challenging the distinct filmic languages of cinema and art, bringing corrupt reveries to life through humor and mistranslations.

Laure Prouvost. Burrow Me (Tunnel) (2015). Mixed Media. © Rupert. Photo: Arnas Anskaitis

Burrow Me, a 2009 work on view in the show, becomes a central component around which a larger narrative is developed and realized. The work follows the steps of Prouvost’s grandfather, a conceptual artist who went missing some 20 years ago, and for whom the artist has been looking ever since. The exhibition invites us to join Prouvost in her ongoing search for her granddad through a human-sized burrow that has been dug in the green outside Rupert. Utilizing elemental material found in her home and inside the earth, the artist built shovels, which she then used to dig into the ground. Among others, a GPS Shovel, a 4 Step Shovel, a Sexy Shovel, a Reading Shovel and a Drunk Shovel then found themselves digging into city land whilst orienting, satiating, nourishing and intoxicating their digger. When all was done, the earth that had been dug out and the now tired shovels were put to sleep in the gallery, where visitors are invited to partake in the digging.

Laure Prouvost. Burrow Me (Tunnel) (2015). Mixed Media. © Rupert. Photo: Arnas Anskaitis

The exhibition forms the second and final part of an ongoing collaboration between Prouvost and Rupert, preceded by an event in the gallery by the artist in the autumn of 2014: an evening of performance, film screenings and conversation with writer and curator Isla Leaver-Yap.

Laure Prouvost. Shark bite shovel (2015), Mixed Media, Courtesy of the artist and MOT International London & Brussels. Photo: © Arnas Anskaitis

Laure Prouvost. Cooking Shovel (2015), Mixed Media, Courtesy of the artist and MOT International London & Brussels. Photo: © Arnas Anskaitis

Laure Prouvost. Watch your back shovel (2015). Mixed Media Courtesy of the artist and MOT International London & Brussels. Photo: © Rupert

Laure Prouvost. Bum Shovel (2015). Mixed Media Courtesy of the artist and MOT International London & Brussels. Photo: © Rupert

Shoes for visitors. Photo: Saulius Žiūra

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