At Paris Art Week, Contributions Paired Design and Music in Immersive Installations 

Held each October, Paris Art Week is growing and rapidly emerging as a key pillar of the ever-evolving international art and design fair circuit. While Art Basel Paris occupies the stunningly restored Grand Palais, Design Miami.Paris sets up shop in Karl Lagerfeld’s Left Bank palace. And, with reliable trains linking the two capitals, it times nicely, right after the London editions of Frieze and PAD.

While these locales are a far cry from the poorly-lit convention centers found almost anywhere else, their massive scale lends itself well to the commercial, market-like nature of these events: hundreds of booths line up in sequence so that visitors can cover as much ground as possible. It can, however, be overstimulating. 

Mounted in separate, more intimate sites across Paris’s concentric expanse—not just the grand edifices of the 7th and 8th Arrondissements—Contributions is a different type of event. 

Unbeholden to the standard financial and spatial conditions of a traditional fair model, the biennial blurs commercial and cultural definitions. It exhibits contemporary talents in more relatable, less prescriptive settings that resemble one’s home, studio, etc. This allows them to more fluidly interact with potential collectors and future collaborators. There’s literal and metaphorical space for impromptu encounters. 

“From the beginning, Contributions has been about connection and admiration,” says seasoned publicist Anna Caradeuc. She established the festival with fellow consultant Élise Daunay to foster a more collaborative and intuitive approach to exhibition-making and talent promotion. “Élise and I share an empathetic understanding of what it means to create, and we trusted that in following this feeling, something meaningful would emerge.” 

With this mindset, they’ve been able to more freely spotlight new, relevant themes driving the increasingly interdisciplinary creative domain. On view from October 20 to 24, this year’s editions, its second, revealed the intrinsic links between furniture design and music; worlds both have straddled throughout their careers. 

“We are committed to creating moments of resonance between practices we love, without overthinking them,” says Daunay. “Our briefs to both designers and musicians were simple. At the core of this year’s program was the joy of bringing together people we admire, and witnessing how their dialogue could move others. It’s in finding stability within the unpredictable that the most beautiful expressions often emerge.”

The five distinctive installations were presented in unexpected locations including the “untouched” Montmartre painting studio of the late Argentinian artist Ruben Alterio. The dramatic, well-worn, and light-filled setting played host to Salt Lake City-based designer Emily Thurman’s  Mother’s Love Rocking Chair and Cheer Up, for You Are So Young Rocking Stool. 

Adorned with cast-metal bells by local jewellery artist Zoé Mohm, the furnishings were turned into interactive musical instruments. Projecting throughout the space was a “wandering soundtrack” by famous Kansas City–based musician Kevin Morby, composed in response to Thurman’s overall concept. The pared back yet deeply textured and emotionally resonated display was presented in partnership with Antwerp, Belgium gallery St. Vincents. 

Rising star of design, Lagos-based Nifemi Marcus-Bello unveiled a new version of his popular M2 Shelf, this time fitted out with a hifi speaker from French manufacturer LaBoite concept. The showcase was staged as an immersive listening room replete with minimalist benches and a soundtrack by renowned Brazilian musician Rodrigo Amarante emanating throughout. Itinerant gallery Verso was an integral partner. 

Up-and-coming Parisian design dealer Adrien Jaïs unearthed doyenne designer Sylvia Corrette‘s 1989 Roxanne and Princesse des Djinns series in a stage set conceived by French-German designer Jeanne Tresvaux du Fraval accentuates by soundscape imagined by composer and guitarist Adrian Edeline.

Other exhibiting designers, artists, musicians, and purveyors included Pauline Esparon, Juliette Teste, Michelle Blades, Andrea Laszlo De Simone, and Harold Mollet. 

Across the offering, visitors had more time to truly engage with the reimagined work, get carried away by the music, and detach from the hustle of the main fairs for a while.