In Paris's Pompidou Center has opened large-scale exhibition entitled Traces du Sacre: Art occidental et spiritualite au XXeme siecle ( «Traces sacred: Western art and spirituality in the XX century»)

Pompidou Center in Paris has opened a large-scale exhibition entitled Traces du Sacre: Art occidental et spiritualite au XXeme siecle ( «Traces sacred: Western art and spirituality in the XX century»). It displays nearly 350 works of two world-renowned artists. Most works have never been exhibited in France.

The theme of the exhibition is «spirituality». The organizers of the exhibition say that in our era, the hallmark of which was «raskoldovyvanie world» and the disappointment of religion, some of the artists in his work continues to address the eternal questions of life. The ratio of artists to religion, the transcendental and metaphysical has been a leitmotif of the project.

The museum presents the work of such artists as Marcel Duchamp, Wassily Kandinsky, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Joseph Beuys, Yannis Kunellis, Christian Boltanski, Bill Viola, etc. Each of the artists see the «spirit» in its own way. For example, one of the main exhibit was the installation by Bruce Naumann, entitled The artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths ( «The artist helps the world, discovering the mystical truth»). In this work the artist says about the role of art, which is «medium» between humans and certain higher forces.

Bruce Naumann artist helps the world, discovering the mystical truth. Installation
Source: www.connaissancedesarts.com

There are all kinds of art of XX century: painting, sculpture, installation, video, etc. Some of the scandalously known works, such as «Self» famous author of occult texts of Alistair Crowley. According to the organizers of the exhibition, a selection of works and genres allows us to see the whole range of spiritual pursuit of the arts last century.

According to the authors site http://www.paris-art . com , the concept of this show fits into the modern trend, referred to as «the pursuit of the sacred». Still fresh in the memory of the recent visit of Nicolas Sarkozy to the Vatican, where the President of the Republic of France spoke of the need «to religion and the Catholic Church a greater public impact». The revival of interest in religion there today and in the political and cultural life of France.

The exhibition will run until August 11, 2008.

Sources: www.paris-art.com ; www.centrepompidou.fr ; www.connaissancedesarts.com ; www.thelema.nu