An inexhaustible source of inspiration for video games, manga, and heroic fantasy, the Middle Ages has carved out a considerable place in pop culture. This influence also extends to the world of artistic creation. Proof of this can be seen in the exhibition "Berserk & Pyrrhia, Contemporary Art and Medieval Art," which juxtaposes medieval works with contemporary creations, in collaboration with the Musée de Cluny – National Museum of the Middle Ages.

Abbeys, religious orders, altarpieces, and the apocalypse. Themes and imagery with a strong identity that find their way into contemporary creation, presented in the exhibition "Berserk & Pyrrhia, Contemporary Art and Medieval Art". "We wish to raise the question of interest in the medieval period and how this interest manifests itself today." »curator Céline Poulin points out that this includes the participation of creatives born at the end of the 20th century.^e or at the beginning of the 21st^e century. Two generations, separated by several centuries from Chrétien de Troyes, who were introduced to this period through "pop culture," via the assiduous and daily consumption of manga, series, cartoons, board games, video games, such as Zelda, Harry Potterobviously Berserk, and The Kingdoms of Fire, from which the word Pyrrhia originates. »This taste for the medieval, but without being in a historical relationship, is what Michel Huyhn (General Curator of the Cluny Museum and scientific advisor of the exhibition) calls medievalism. 

"For about forty years, this term has referred to a practice which consists of looking through a contemporary and modern lens at the contributions of the Middle Ages and its influence, both in the world of ideas and in society in general," the historian continues“We realize that all of us, regardless of our backgrounds, tastes, preferences, and inclinations, are both the product and the heirs of the Middle Ages, often unconsciously. We think it's something that's fundamental to our personality, when in fact it comes from a much deeper place, from something deeply ingrained. And that's what we find both in the work of contemporary artists and in the sources that have influenced them.” »

"What also interested us in this relationship between medieval and contemporary art is this reflection on the relations of production.", adds the commissioner“Indeed, to be interested in this pre-modern period is also to be interested in the pre-industrial period, and in production methods that were more artisanal, such as ceramics, bronze, or even wood.”, but also blood. Thus, the artist Alison Flora created the canvas Secret portal, secret passage thanks to its own hemoglobin, collected using a catheter. 

From this pre-modern period, the relationship to mysticism and religion is also overexploited. Shine and Struggle in Shinigami RealmIbrahim Meité Sikely stages an angel of death Death NoteHe constructs the painting like a religious work. At its center is the heart, a Christ-like motif, but also a unicorn. Religion still in Eigengrau_CH1 by Raphaël Moreira Gonçalves, a kind of neo-altarpiece low techwhich blends 3D printing, a Wi-Fi router, artificial intelligence, acrylic paint, and clay. In a different vein, the artist Teresa Fernandez-Pello also explores this must have churches, with The Heart of the HeartCreated using discarded electronic products, electrical cables, polyester resin, acrylic, and steel tubing, this work explores "the evolution of beliefs, from religious faith to trust in technology."

No medieval world is complete without its magical creatures, especially its mermaids. With Mermaid bedAgnes Scherer brings to life a place of sorrow, love, and illness"It symbolizes a traditional model of domestic life, incompatible with that of the mermaid." »This creature, a "soulless being who can only acquire one by marrying a human," nevertheless remains an "anti-wife."

Architecture is also present, in the form of a reconstructed village square. On this square, one finds the work of Corentin Darré. A little lead in your heartswhich includes a silver-painted half-timbered house facade and a film recounting "a curse born of forbidden love, revealing how societies designate scapegoats in the face of the inexplicable." Our favorite piece, the fountain Open Source* L. Camus-Govoroff's work is inspired by the figure of the Virgin Mary. “I found it interesting to explore this relationship between the closed spring, which cannot be a source of life, and the Virgin Mary, who is the embodiment of Christ-like life in Catholic culture. […] I decided that this fountain would not contain water, but a decoction. It’s a mixture of plants that was created by Berkeley students around 2015 and 2017, as part of research into a non-hormonal contraceptive pill. It also parallels the fact that research in herbalism has been very limited in France. For me, this piece also represents the history of the censorship of ancestral knowledge, for the benefit of pharmaceutical elites or anti-feminist policies, given that this knowledge about plants was often linked to more feminist entities.” » explains the artist. 

While the medieval period offers an escape from contemporary rationality, it also provides a mirror in which our modern world is perfectly reflected.

“Berserk & Pyrrhia, Contemporary Art and Medieval Art”
Frac Île-de-France, Le Plateau
Until July 20, 2025

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