ART CITIES: Paris-Tabita Rezaire
Tabita Rezaire is infinity incarnated into an agent of healing, who uses art as a means to unfold the soul. Her cross-dimensional practices envision network sciences – organic, electronic and spiritual – as healing technologies to serve the shift towards heart consciousness. Navigating digital, corporeal and ancestral memory as sites of resilience, she digs into scientific imaginaries to tackle the pervasive matrix of coloniality and the protocols of energetic misalignments that affect the songs of our body-mind-spirits.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Fondation Louis Vuitton Archive
Tabita Rezaire is a French artist of Guyanese and Danish descent who has been creating an interdisciplinary oeuvre exploring the intersections between science, spirituality and new technologies. Her artistic philosophy combines metaphysical and political perspectives to present the audience with alternative ways of understanding the world. In 2020, the artist, now based in French Guiana, founded Amakaba, a non-profit organisation devoted to promoting Amazonian environmental and cultural heritage through art, science and ancestral traditions. In addition to supporting pregnant women as a doula, the artist farms a plantation on which she grows cocoa as well as medicinal and dye plants, all activities that resonate with her creative practice and define her as an artist. For her first solo exhibition in a Paris institution at the Fondation Louis Vuitton as part of the Open Space programme, Rezaire presents “Des/astres” (2024), the last part of a trilogy devoted to the ties that humanity forges with the cosmos. Starting from various megalithic sites, this series of films explores their astronomical links to address the connections between Earth and Sky. While the first work “Mamelles ancestrales” (201 9) explored Senegambian stone monuments to understand our relationships with the dead, the second “Orbit Diapason” (2021) – presented a reflection on the existence of extraterrestrial life from a South African megalithic site. The third chapter “Des/astres” examines humanity’s desire to go beyond the earth and commune with the invisible. This new film was shot on the Guiana Plateau in the Amazon rainforest and unfolds in four chapters: forest, water, stone, sky -, each offering a unique way to connect with the cosmos. Stone circles, tall trees and water spirits become technologies of cosmic exploration, much like the rockets from the Guiana Space Centre hurtling toward space. Testimonials gathered from tradition-keepers, shamans, astrophysicists and researchers shed light on the ancestral heritage of a land in which, through a constellation of perspectives, popular beliefs coexist with scientific theories. To present this film, the artist designed a “planetarium hut” (a carbet) inspired by Amazonian vernacular architecture. As “Des/astres” is projected on the underside of the hut’s domed roof, viewers are invited to lie down in hammocks, hand-woven in keeping with the Kali’na and Lokono traditions, for a journey between heaven and earth. In today’s context of ecological crises and the acceleration of technological innovation, “Des/astres is an invitation to bring the universe into oneself, to remind us of the power of the original mystery”.
The stone circles in South Africa, some times called “the cradle of the sun” or “Adam’s Calendar,” attract considerable interest due to their mystery. Some regard them as sacred sites, while others speculate about a potential connection with extraterrestrial phenomena. This phenomenon intrigues not only proponents of alternative theories, but also NASA, which conducts research to detect potential forms of life beyond our planet. This interest is partially fueled by the desire to find alternative solutions to the current environmental crisis, symbolized by the decline in bee populations. The Second chapter “Orbit Diapason” explores these questions in an analytical manner. By examining our fascination with the unknown and our desire for expansion, it prompts reflection on our relationship with our planet and the universe. Presented in a dome structure reminiscent of a beehive this film offers a thoughtful perspective on our place in the cosmos. Drawing inspiration from the megalithic landscapes of Senegal and the Gambia, space debris, archaeology, astronomy, numerology, theology and African understandings of the cosmos, the first chapter “Mamelles Ancestrales” strives to establish pathways between heaven and earth, between the living and the dead, in a world where celestial bodies, mineral life and spirits sing together. The film is the result of Tabita Rezaire’s research and expeditions to four megalithic sites. Gathering stories from the guardians of the sites, local populations and other understandings from astronomers, archeologists, and theologians to unfold the mysteries of the thousands of stone circles scattered across Senegambia, “Mamelles Ancestrales” goes in pursuit of an ancient African megalithic civilization so as to better understand our own.
Photo: Tabita Rezaire, Des astres, 2024, Installation view, Open Space #16, exhibition presented from April 9 to August 31, 2025, galerie 8, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris.© Adagp, Paris, 2025 © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Martin Argyroglo
Info: Curators: Claudia Buizza and Ludovic Delalande, Fondation Louis Vuitton, 8 Av. du Mahatma Gandhi, Paris, France, Duration: 9/4-31/8/2025, Days & Hours: Daily 10:00-18:00, www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr/
