Return to the Cave – Act I
As part of the Palais Garnier’s renovation, the Opéra National de Paris invited JR to transform the scaffolding on this temple of dance and music. Visible throughout September 2023, the facade showed a vast cave that opened to a passage filled with rocks and light.
Retour à la caverne continued JR’s trompe l’oeil projects, which have taken over iconic sites such as the Louvre Museum, the Trocadero Esplanade, the Farnese Palace in Rome and the Strozzi Palace in Florence. Each installation is an invitation for viewers to change their perspective.
Like an opera libretto, JR’s transformation of Palais Garnier took place in two monumental acts.
Act I referenced the stage sets of epic operas by Berlioz or Wagner and 19th century romanticism. Palais Garnier appeared to be stuck between two times. At first glance, the building seemed to be in ruins, a reflection of the fragility and eternity of Parisian monuments. But upon closer inspection, the piece could also be interpreted as a work of art in permanent construction. Alongside the century-old building and natural formations, contemporary scaffolding was present, a nod to the real and necessary work that physically supports this installation and monument.
Walking up the Avenue de l’Opéra, visitors were invited to immerse themselves in this geological universe that evoked the origins of song and dance in Ancient Greece. Until the 6th century BC, Ancient Greek festivities celebrating the gods took place in caves. Through construction – the digging of large stalls and bleachers – these celebrations moved to cities and theater was born.
The Palais Garnier installation encouraged viewers to return to a romanticism inspired by the natural world. The cave beckoned viewers to peer inside, invoking Plato’s allegory of the cave – a place where the exit leads to knowledge and an understanding of the world.
For four nights in September, the cave was brought to life through projections in the Place de l’Opéra. The screenings were open to all free of charge and included showings of Les Bosquets by JR; L’oiseau de feu by Maurice Béjart; Boléro by Maurice Béjart; an excerpt from Les Contes d’Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach, directed by Robert Carsen; Brise-lames by Damien Jalet; an excerpt from Le Parc by Angelin Preljocaj; Die Grosse Fuge by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker; an excerpt from La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, directed by Simon Stone; The Art Of Not Looking Back by Hofesh Shechter; and an excerpt from Les Indes Galantes by Jean-Philippe Rameau, directed by Clément Cogitore.
Return to the Cave – Act II
For Act II of Retour à la caverne, the Palais Garnier took a significant leap back in time. All architectural features that were present in Act I disappeared, replaced by rocky cavern walls marked with human handprints. The cave became a protective place that shelters its residents from the violence of the world. The darkness revealed light.
The scattering of handprints across the facade anchored the cavern as the birthplace of cave art. Hundreds of people participated in the creation of Act II – Retour à la caverne by making prints of their hands during Mano Habilis workshops at le 19m. From September to November, participants learned how to embroider, embellishing their own handprints and posing with their creations at an Inside Out Photobooth. Their prints were collected and placed on the facade alongside hundreds of others.
Return to the Cave – Act II – Chiroptera
On November 12th, 2023, the vast cavern covering the facade of the Palais Garnier came to life with CHIROPTERA, a project by JR, Damien Jalet, and Thomas Bangalter. Twenty-five thousand spectators filled the Place de l’Opéra to watch Amandine Albisson, a principal ballerina at the Paris Opera, open the entrance to the cave with her looming, anthropomorphous shadow. For one night only, JR’s Act II – Retour à la caverne installation became a stage curtain that opened to unveil 153 dancers covering scaffolding thirty meters in the air. A stunning performance choreographed by Damien Jalet with music by Thomas Bangalter, CHIROPTERA explored the allegories presented in Act I and II of Retour à la caverne.
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