Twenty years after the previous presentation of works from the collection of the Frac Bretagne at the Passerelle, and at the very moment when Etienne Bernard has been nominated its new director, this exhibition presents a selection of recently acquired works in comparison with more historical pieces. They invite the viewer for a dreamlike expedition, From the Earth to the Moon.

The first idea for the exposition followed the theme of the voyage at sea, in the context of the homecoming of Emperor Napoleon’s rowing galley to Brest after an absence of more than 70 years away at war1. We alluded to Homer, Conrad, Rimbaud and the great epics and we made our first choice between the aesthetic quality of the works and the theme, without forgetting our own pleasure of discovery among the 5000 artworks of the Frac. This was all done in collaboration of the Director at the time, Catherine Elkar.

After several twists and turns and surprises, we had to make a second selection which took us audaciously from the Earth to the Moon. Through approximately thirty works that intermingle, that dialogue, that wander between the air and water, between minerals and the galaxies, between energy and the world of dreams. All not without a dose of derision and the spinning of metaphors. They are mostly recent acquisitions, but we did not prohibit ourselves with making connections with older works.

L’Abrestoise by Olivier Tourenc and Les Grands Sélénites by Di Matteo take us on a voyage from the Earth to the Moon, which passes by L’Ithaque by Marcel Dinahet or Maya, l’île perdue by Alexandre Ponomarev. No Pipe by Etienne Bossut keeps measure, Guillaume Leblon and Steven Pippin deal with time, Marcel Broodthaers dreams. Richard Long walks in the landscape and creates magical circles there, like Wilfrid Almendra and his Grand Opus, while Nikolas Fouré and the Mesures, Marion Verboom and her Concrétions or Nicolas Floc’h bring us back to earth. Gloria Friedman sees the Le Soleil levant sur la rivière (Sunrise on the River) through plastic piping, which are near terra cotta Medasa heads by Michel Gouéry. La Ventrue Anita Molinaro shows its extravagence and its excesses and is confronted by the purity of form by Briac Leprêtre.

You see, we are not too serious, but we hope to share the pleasure of seeing or seeing again artworks that allow us to go on a voyage.

Curators : Françoise Terret-Daniel and Bruno Chevillotte