“What does it mean to exist?” We visited French artist Marguerite Humeau in her London studio, whose interest and curiosity span many fields and disciplines.
“I don’t see my artworks as artworks. I see them as real-life forms. They have a voice. They have a pulse. They have a heartbeat. They have a rhythm. They are very much alive.”
”When I was 25, I had an accident. So, I went through what you would call a near-death experience. And to me, that’s the beginning of everything because it really made me think. When you come close to death, it makes you reflect on what it means to live.”
“What does it mean to exist physically? What does it mean to exist spiritually? Can you exist without a physical body? What happens after you die? What will survive you? What are all the things that compose the human existence?”
“We are interconnected with a great web of life; whatever we do, it’s like being a spider in a spider web. Whenever we move, many other things move around us as a result of us, of our own movement. So, there is a great responsibility that comes with just the idea of existing in the world.”
Marguerite Humeau (b. 1986, Cholet, France) lives and works in London. She received her MA from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2011. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris (2021); Kunstverein Hamburg (2019); Museion, Bolzano (2019); New Museum, New York (2018); Tate Britain, London (2017); Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich (2017); Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2017); Nottingham Contemporary (2016); and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2016).
Humeau’s work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including Hayward Gallery, London (2024); Venice Biennale: “The Milk of Dreams” (2022); 23rd Biennale of Sydney (2022); Kunsthalle Basel (2021); the Istanbul Biennial (2019); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019); MAMVP, Paris (2019); the High Line, New York (2017); Château de Versailles, France (2017); Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2017); FRAC Midi- Pyrénées, Toulouse, France (2017); Serpentine Galleries, London (2014); and Victoria and Albert Museum, Sculpture Gallery, London (2014).
In 2023, Humeau inaugurated a 160-acre earthwork, “Orisons,” in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, curated and produced by the Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum. Humeau’s work was included in the 15th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud in 2024. She is represented by White Cube and CLEARING New York/Los Angeles.
Marguerite Humeau was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in her studio in London in October 2023.
Camera: Anthony Jarman
Edited by: Signe Boe Pedersen
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2024
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling.
Cover:
“Orisons”
Julia Andréone and Florine Bonaventure
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7 Comments
No. It's not. Nobody owes anyone anything for being cursed with life.
very humeauristic, coming close to near desk experience makes you run away from bureau 😅😅😅
NICE WORK
Wow!!
Thank you for existing, Marguerite. Finally, an artist who understands the appreciation and transformation of mythology.
At first I loved the art, but then it dissed/ trampled on a miracle I've experienced in life, from beyond myself, so not just my opinion. The artist puts down Christian faith, while speaking of inventing her own 'myths' & going into all these new age spiritual practices, & on & on. I was a person who lost faith, due to being abused as a child, & having severe struggles, & people talked me out of my faith, so I lost it, like this artist (also Catholic). I prayed, "If I was wrong to lose faith, somehow show me the Truth," for a couple years. I ended up running into Bible based devotion / magazines, answering my life concerns, unexpectedly, to an astonishing degree; such as grabbing a magazine in a grocery store checkout (for example, turning by chance to a page titled, 'for when you lose your job,' right when I had just walked through the store obsessively concerned with feeling as sense of potential job loss & did lose my job 2 days later). So I started to get faith back, but struggled & one day prayed I feared Jesus could be a myth (as this video/ artist called him). I asked for help. Read a daily Bible devotion. To my total shock & joy, the daily reading for that day, just so happened to be a perfect answer to my question!!! By miracle, the daily Word, right that day/ minute, was the ONLY passage in the WHOLE Bible, that directly, explicitly reassures you Jesus is NOT a myth, & that 'you would do well to follow.: (The passage = 2 Peter chapt 1, verses 16-19). I've experienced an ongoing miracle with Bible devotions/ Words like this (& other forms, such as sermons, Bible based life application books), answering very detailed questions, at a miraculous level, for decades now. So despite initially liking a couple of this artists works, she is unfortunately a lost soul. I've seen proof. It's not just my opinion, but wisdom from beyond me that tells me she has made a huge error to reject the Truth/ true faith she had given to her, to live instead by her own invention.
Ima lil drunk, but how many of these artists come from means, where the weight of capitalism isn't breathing down their neck? I want to see artists who are standing in spite of it all