'Domestikator' by Atelier Van Lieshout at the Centre Pompidou

18 - 22 October '17

Carpenters Workshop Gallery and Atelier Van Lieshout salute the decision of Bernard Blistène, curator and director of the Centre Pompidou, and Jennifer Flay, director of FIAC, to welcome the ‘Domestikator’ by the artist-sculptor Joep Van Lieshout on the piazza of Centre Pompidou, from 18 to 22 October as part of the FIAC Hors-les-Murs (Outdoors) program.

The “Domestikator” was always intended to be a catalyst for thought, as it addresses the serious issue of how humans employ technology – with ingenuity, creativity, sophistication and persistence – to change the world into a “better” place, often domesticating it in the process.

In order to push the boundaries of human experience and longevity, we have developed new technologies, like artificial intelligence, genetic manipulation, robotics and industrial farming, which push our ethical borders, without any real understanding of the long-term consequences.

Joep Van Lieshout is “pleased that visitors to the Pompidou will have the opportunity to experience this work and hope that it generates questions and dialogue around the complexity of the issue of domestication – particularly its inherent hypocrisy, and the disconcerting fact that we are still without any real policy or regulation to govern this increasingly intrepid behavior”.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery gives its artists opportunities to express themselves. In this case, the gallery has provided the installation and technical means needed for the considerable logistical organization and transport for the construction of the artwork in record time in Paris.

The “Domestikator” will be installed on the piazza in front of the entrance of the Centre Pompidou, which is known as the ‘Triangle’, from 18 to 22 October facing the legendary Stravinsky fountain. In choosing this location in the vicinity of a major artistic institution, it makes it a key public meeting point in Paris for an open and receptive audience.