In 2014, Monumenta returned to the Grand Palais in Paris after a year’s absence.

Bathed in sunlight through the splendid glass roof, the cityscape of immaculate walls may more readily evoke the Mediterranean, but it’s Russia, its vast territory and its history, that are constantly referred to.

An opportunity to rethink the city on an artistic basis, with a proposal by Ilya and Emilia Kabohov. We explore a maze of streets and a variety of buildings with a whiff of utopia, searching for the ideal city, cosmic energy, or what in itself is worth the visit: instructions on how to meet an angel!

Beyond the real experience of a journey through the city, it’s a journey through a process of artistic/urban creation with concepts, sketches, paintings, models…

Monumenta is an opportunity for a change of scale between the grandeur of the Palais, which admittedly continues to eat up exhibitions edition after edition, and the intimacy of the alcoves that can be reached by stooping down.

Monumenta 2014
The strange city
Grand Palais, Paris, May 10 to June 22, 2014
grandpalais.fr