Viviane Sassen
Venus & Mercury
Numerous fascinating stories lie behind the exhibition Venus & Mercury. Many were inspired by the lives of Marie Antoinette, royal mistresses, poisoners and soothsayers, as well as by the erotic and medical histories that surrounded the French royal court in the 17th and 18th centuries. Venus refers to the Roman goddess of love and lust, and Mercury to quicksilver, the heavy liquid metal that was long used to treat syphilis. Each room tells a separate story; together they form a linked sequence of remarkable histories, with accompanying poetic texts by Marjolijn van Heemstra. Some of these stories are related by the actress Tilda Swinton in a hypnotic video installation.
For six months Viviane Sassen was given private, after-hours access to Versailles. During this time, she delved into the archives and used the artefacts and architecture of the palace to create a body of new photographs and collages. The images, including photographs of Marie-Antoinette’s private correspondence, and fragments of sculptures, allude to the untold stories of Versailles. Drawn to the bodies represented in the palace’s many marble statues, Sassen created hybrid forms that play with notions of sexuality and gender and call to mind traditions of Surrealist art and the work of figures such as Hans Bellmer. To embody these stories, Sassen worked with a group of young women who grew up near the palace. These models appear and disappear amidst a jumble of images that mix the ancient with the modern, and the real with make-belief.
Artists
Viviane Sassen