"The Suitcase Museum: The Imaginary Sea" in Monaco

The Carmignac Foundation, in partnership with the Paris Psychiatry & Neurosciences University Hospital Group (GHU Paris psychiatrie & neurosciences), has created ‘Le musée-valise: La Mer imaginaire’ (The Suitcase Museum: The Imaginary Sea), a travelling miniature museum designed as a contemporary cabinet of curiosities for hospital staff and the general public.

A travelling version of the exhibition La Mer imaginaire presented in 2021 at the Villa Carmignac on the island of Porquerolles, curated by Chris Sharp, the museum-suitcase was conceived as a small mobile theatre where each scene reveals new works.

To the rhythm of a choreographed opening of the object, works by Miquel Barceló, Bianca Bondi, Jean Painlevé and Yves Klein are revealed in a play of light, sound and animated images. Secret mechanisms inspired by magicians, precision electronics concealed in the hinges and a removable screen contribute to the staging of this miniature museum camouflaged under the appearance of a wooden chest.

Experimented for over a year at the GHU Paris, the suitcase museum continues to travel to other hospitals, schools and prisons, as well as festivals and exhibitions dedicated to contemporary art and crafts.

It will make a stop at the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation's Green Shift Festival on Thursday, 6 June 2024 at 7 p.m. at Place Anne-Marie Campora, in the presence of Charles Carmignac, Director of the Carmignac Foundation, during the ‘Imaginaires de la Mer’ evening, which will also feature artist Bianca Bondi and writer and navigator Olivier Le Carrer.

Credit © Fondation Carmignac