Introduction

Camille Henrot, born in France in 1978, is an artist exploring new horizons of knowledge and creativity through various media including film, sculpture, drawing, installation, and more. Her work moves freely between rationality and intuition based on research driven by her vigorous intellectual curiosity. Her interests encompass all aspects of the world including literature, philosophy, and anthropology, as well as today's digitalised information society. One of the most fascinating qualities of Henrot's art is that she not only receives but also comprehend information, and elevates her findings into humanities and culture (what one learns from all things, internalises and utilises) in the broad sense to create unfettered artwork embracing both order and chaos in the universe.

After the successful participation at the Intense Proximity triennial curated by Okwui Enwezor in 2012 and winning the Silver Lion at the 55th Venezia Biennale in 2013, Henrot's work gained international acclaim. In 2017, she became the third artist in history to have been given the "carte blanche" to hold a solo exhibition using the entire building of the Palais de Tokyo. She is one of the contemporary artists attracting the most attention today.

In Japan, Henrot's art has been mainly introduced through film. This is the artist's first comprehensive exhibition in Japan showcasing her work including large-scale installations up until today. Henrot's ikebana-inspired work, created through full collaboration with the Sogetsu Foundation at the exhibition venue, is part of her unique experiment in her solo exhibition in Japan.

This exhibition offers an opportunity to experience her enthusiastic intellectual exploration, reflect on how we should observe the world around us and what knowledge, humanities and culture truly are made of. In today's information society, it is much easier to obtain information than in the past, but that is probably why we no longer take time to thoroughly read and understand each piece of information including its origin and background. Henrot's exploration is driven by her sincere desire to know. Looking at her work, we can also see that she respects unknown territories that cannot be included in the system and aspects that cannot be verbalised. Henrot faces the world by firstly questioning every existing thing and then continues to pose questions from different perspectives. There is visible joy in her endless exploration rooted in humbleness for all things.

Henrot's work let us see, using all our physical senses, that there is more than one answer to questions, and that reason and creativity originate in the chaos of contradictions and ambiguities.

Is it possible to be a revolutionary and like flowers?
2011– mixed media
installation view at galerie kamel mennour (2012)
photo: Fabrice Seixas
The Pale Fox
2014
installation view at Palais de Tokyo (2017)
photo: Zachary Tyler Newton

courtesy the artist and galerie kamel mennour (Paris/London) Metro Pictures (New York) KÖNIG GALERIE (Berlin)
© ADAGP, Paris & JASPAR, Tokyo 2019