Laure Prouvost’s artistic output consistently returns to themes of escape into unfamiliar worlds or imaginings of unexpected alternative environments. A strong narrative impulse propels her practice, resulting in immersive, transmedial installations with interwoven story lines that combine fiction and reality. Her videos, installations, paintings and tapestries unhinge commonplace and expected connections between language, image, and perception. Stepping away from traditional linear narratives, the artist crafts sensual environments laden with playful mistranslation that open a space for the viewer to grapple with the unstable relationship between imagination and reality. The elasticity of the written word comprises a central element of Prouvost’s practice, stating: “Words for me are very visually powerful, because with words people create their own vision. I am just hinting and suggesting possibilities, the audience is making its own image in its head. It is also about misunderstanding, misinterpreting, miscommunicating – words also suggesting failure and other senses.”
She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins and a Master of Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College in London and took part in the LUX Associate Artists Programme. She received the Max Mara Art Prize for Women in 2011, the prestigious Turner Prize in 2013 and represented France 2019 at the 58th Biennale Arte in Venice.
Her most recent solo projects include: A Flying Grandma in Oslo, Esmé Blue in Busan, Helsinki, and Madrid, An Elastic Arm Hold in Tight in Copenhagen, A Swallowing and Breathing in Eindhoven, A Smoking Mother in Copenhagen, A Melting Into Another in Lisbon and Sonsbeek, An Occupied Paradise in Aalst, Deep See Blue Surrounding You in Venice, Toulouse, and Lille, A Waiting Room with Objects in Minneapolis, A New Museum for Granddad in Milano, a Tearoom for Grandma in Derry, A Karaoke Room in Brussels, A New Octopus Ink Vodka Bar for Gregor in Rotterdam, A Travel Agency for an Uncle in Frankfurt, A Lobby for Love Among the Artists in the Hague and Luzern … tea bags, and wet floors and tentacles.
Selected Works
Laure Prouvost
Frauke, 2024
handblown Murano glass and bronze
123 × 55 × 24 cm
Laure Prouvost
Annie, Good Night Rub He She Mobiles, 2024
Mobile with metal hanger and mixed media parts
88 × 37 × 42 cm
Laure Prouvost
Trym, 2023
Handblown Murano glass and bronze
89 × 25 × 55 cm
Laure Prouvost
Esme Blue – My Heart In The Blue, 2022
oil on canvas
190 × 250 × 3,5 cm
Laure Prouvost
We Will Feed You Together Fountain (For Global Warming), 2019
Laure Prouvost
Swallow me, From Flanders to Italy, a tapestry, 2019
Tapestry + 2 TV screens
200 × 460 cm
Laure Prouvost
Trapped by Your Light, 2021
murano glass, LED light bulb
65 × 65 × 85 cm
c|g Exhibitions
Surrounding You | Berlin
23.11.2024–11.01.2025
My Arms Will Renew | Madrid
09.09.–29.10.2022
ongoing schmidt pick | Berlin
10.03.–17.04.2021
Basel En Madrid | Madrid
17.06.–26.07.2020
Basel By Berlin | Berlin
17.–26.06.2020
So what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? | Madrid
27.02.–01.03.2020
In Reflection We Rest | Berlin
14.09.–23.11.2019
Dear dirty dark drink drift down deep droll (in der dole) | Berlin
11.09.–31.10.2015
External Exhibitions
Solo Exhibition
Oma-je | PHI Foundation, Montreal, Canada
01.11.2024–09.03.2025
Solo Exhibition
Oui Move In You | ACCA, Melbourne
23.03.–10.06.2024
Solo Exhibition
IN THE MIST OF IT ALL, ABOVE FRONT TEARS | De Pont Museum, Tilburg
24.02.–18.08.2024
Solo Exhibition
Oma-je | Remai Modern, Saskatoon
30.06.2023–28.02.2024
Solo Exhibition
Ohmmm age Oma je ohomma mama | Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
11.05.–01.10.2023
Special Presentation
FAÇADE | KANAL, Brussels
24.03.–01.09.2023
Solo Exhibition
Above Front Tears Oui Float | Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo
05.11.2022–12.02.2023
Solo Exhibition
In the Depth Heat Leaks | La Casa Encendida, Madrid
07.10.2022–08.01.2023
Video
Selected Publications
Laure Prouvost, Deep See Blue Surrounding You / Vois ce bleu profond te fondre, Co-edited by Flammarion/Institut français, 2019
Laure Prouvost, LEGSICON, Book Works and M HKA, 2019
Laure Prouvost, Ring, Sing and Drink for Trespassing, Palais de Tokyo les presses du réel, 2018
Laure Prouvost, We Will Go Far / A Way to Leak, Leek, Musee d’Art Contemporain de Rochechouart, Fahrenheit by FLAX, 2016
Laure Prouvost, Hit. Flash, Back Mousse Publishing, 2016
Laure Prouvost, We Would Be Floating Away from the Dirty Past, Walther Koenig, 2016
Laure Prouvost This Book Likes You, (Artist Book) Book Works, 2013