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Exhibition at MAMO - The Le Corbusier's cité radieuse in Marseille
by Modem – Posted July 06 2019
© Modem

Located at the top of Le Corbusier's cité radieuse in Marseille - built in the early 1950s - the MAMO (marseille modular) floats over the city like an island in the sky dedicated to art and design.

Every summer, a different artist presents an his artwork on the roof, working on comparison between artwork and the space that is full of the Le Corbusier spirit.

This project was inaugurated in 2013, from Ora Ito, who had bought the roof space 10 years ago. An idea that was inspired by Le Corbusier himself because at the time used the roof to host an avant-garde festival that combined dance, sculpture and music.

Ora Ito explains: ...' I purchased this roof space because I was obsessed with it.
At first I only knew that I wanted to bring it back to its original design - what Le Corbusier had conceived. So, I went to the Le Corbusier Foundation and did a lot of research before and during the restoration work, in order to be able to reproduce the original features in detail. Thanks to this research, I discovered the images of the avant-garde Art Festival that Le Corbusier had hosted on the on the roof and... that's why I realized that it had to be a contemporary art space again ...
"

This summer, after Daniel Buren, Xavier Veilhan, Dan Graham, Felice Varini, Jean-Pierre Raynaud, Olivier Morset, Alex Israel, a Californian multimedia artist, occupies the rooftop with Batman.

Inspired by Tim Burton's movie, Alex Israel obtained exclusive permission from Warner Bros Studios to access the Batmobile and Bat-Signal from 1989. It is now possible to admire Torman's sleek torpedo profile and Batman's signature logo at the MaMo. The vehicle is installed as a sculpture inside the showroom, presented as the centerpiece of a smoky light and sound installation. The logo of Batman is to be admired outdoors: the massive projector placed on the terrace of MAMO imposing Batman's logo over Marseille.

Alex Israel's show is ongoing from June 8th to August 31st

© Modem