Season Opening: 28 August 2025, 18 - 21h
19h: Introduction by Joshua Amissah, curator and writer
The artist is present and will sign his new book.
In his most recent series, Douglas Mandry explores the historical archives of the Albert Kahn Museum (Paris) through a visual reinterpretation, challenging colonial and universalist perspectives.
“Les Archives de la Planète” was a large-scale project by French banker Albert Kahn, who devoted his fortune to a visionary undertaking in the early 20th century: documenting the world in color through photography and film. Between 1908 and 1930, he built up what was then the largest ethnological photo and film project, resulting in more than 100 hours of film and over 72,000 photographs from all over the world. His vision was to create an understanding of other people and their cultures through visual representations of everyday life from all parts of the world, thereby contributing to a peaceful world.
The photographs in the archives are significant in more ways than one. First of all, they carry within them the DNA of innovative research in humanity’s desire to represent the world. The principle of superimposing layers of color, developed by the Lumière brothers and Albert Kahn’s team, has revolutionized our perception of the world. Like any technology, however, it is bound to evolve and therefore become obsolete. Despite the unique care taken in their conservation, the traces of time are visible on the autochromes. These artefacts, reminders of the century that has elapsed between their creation and the present day, highlight the complexity of their nature.
Douglas Mandry selects and transforms the documents through lithography printing and painting, altering their materiality in order to disrupt their documentary authority. His process embraces decay, abstraction, and ambiguity, exposing the fragility of archives and the landscapes they depict.
