News / Announcements

February 9–March 23, 2024
AlUla, Saudi Arabia
desertx.org

Giuseppe Penone’s sculpture La logica del vegetale – Metamorfosi (Vegetal Logic – Metamorphosis) (2024) is installed in an ancient desert canyon in the Arabian Peninsula as part of Desert X AlUla 2024. The 17-meter-tall (almost 56-foot-tall) cast bronze chestnut tree lies on its side with gnarled roots exposed, surrounded by pieces of fossilized trees, revealing the interdependence between sculpture and nature across geological time. This is the third edition of Desert X AlUla, a collaboration between Desert X and the Royal Commission for AlUla established to advance new cultural dialogue through art. Curated by Maya El Khalil and Marcello Dantas, the selection of works explores the theme “In the Presence of Absence” and asks the question “What cannot be seen?”

Wednesday, December 6, 2023, 6:30pm
Gagosian, 4 rue de Ponthieu, Paris

Please join Gagosian for a conversation between Giuseppe Penone and architect Hala Wardé inside Impronte di luce / Empreintes de lumière, an exhibition of new paintings by the artist inspired by his experience of Le Corbusier’s Couvent Sainte-Marie de La Tourette in Éveux, France. The longtime friends will discuss Penone’s latest body of work and their most recent collaboration for Louvre Abu Dhabi, where Wardé was partner architect and Penone was one of two artists commissioned to create site-specific permanent installations. They will also consider the creative exploration of space, form, and material inherent to both art and architecture, shedding light on the fascinating intersections that shape their collaborative efforts. The conversation will be conducted in French.

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Giuseppe Penone has been elected a foreign associate member of the prestigious Académie des beaux-arts, one of five institutions comprising the Institut de France. Penone joins ten other foreign members, taking the seat previously held by the late Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow. The artist’s induction ceremony took place on October 18, 2023.

Dedicated to the fine arts, the Académie des beaux-arts encourages artistic creation and ensures the defense of France’s cultural heritage by awarding prizes to both emerging and recognized artists, organizing competitions, funding artist residencies, and granting aid to artistic projects, events, and associations. As an advisory body to the French public authorities, it is organized around the notion of multidisciplinarity, bringing together members within eight different artistic sections, foreign associate members, and corresponding members.