Photographer Kourtney Roy and composer Mathias Delplanque, winners of the Swiss Life Prize for their collaborative work combining image and sound, continue their tour across France.
For his 6e edition, the Swiss Life 4 Hands Prize, organized every two years by the Swiss Life Foundation, awarded Last ParadiseAs has been the custom since its inception in 2014, the recipients benefit from significant visibility within an exhibition circuit in Paris and throughout France. In the summer of 2024, the artist duo presented this imaginary road trip at the Aire d'Arles during the Rencontres de la Photographie.
In 2025, they continue their tour across France. Last February, Last Paradise It was exhibited at the Jeu de Paume in Paris. This spring, it will be showcased at the Villa Pérochon in Niort. It will then make a stop at the Art Rock festival in Saint-Brieuc for its very first live performance, and will conclude its journey at the Jeu de Paume within the Château de Tours. Those who appreciate sound and image can also enjoy a beautiful photographic book accompanied by a 45 rpm vinyl record, published by Filigranes.
Paradise Lost
With Last ParadiseThe Canadian artist returns to still photography after directing her first feature film. Kryptic, presented at the SXSW festival in Austin in 2024. It continues without a break, immersing us in a visual and sonic odyssey in the heart of Rimini, a small Italian seaside town on the Adriatic coast. A perfect setting for a haunting and ghostly stay, off-season.
Kourtney Roy continues to delight in crafting cinematic autofictions, where the ordinary and raw reality vie with the absurd and the dreamlike. Here, she embodies a whimsical character, adorned with bouffant wigs and stylized vintage dresses, who engages in strange and bizarre activities as she travels.
Her depictions of beaches, streets, tourist sites, and dilapidated architecture are indeed devoid of any human presence. She appears as the last woman on Earth, lost in a space-time continuum. Through this portfolio saturated with pastel colors, Kourtney Roy also continues to demonstrate her love for the urban landscapes of Stephen Shore, the imagination of David Lynch, and the fantastical, glossy humor of Guy Bourdin.
Bold Fusion
Last Paradise It then earns its stripes as a stroll and a visual wandering thanks to the soundtrack by Mathias Delplanque. The composer, born in Ouagadougou and based in Nantes, has created some forty albums and soundscapes for dance, theater, and film. Here, he designs a veritable sonic space combining hybrid tones, psychedelic sounds, and offbeat pop.
The score takes us on a journey with the rhythms of vintage "made in Rimini" synthesizers from the 1970s, drawing inspiration from giallo and B-movie soundtracks, easy listening, and Balearic disco. To this melodious cocktail, he adds sound effects (waves, birdsong, the click of heels), creating a hazy version that sounds like it came straight from the "jukebox of an abandoned club."
Last Paradise is an engaging and immersive artistic experience where sound and image, surrealism and melancholy, harmonize. The duo Kourtney Roy and Mathias Delplanque work wonderfully together, transporting us to a final elsewhere, where everything seems both possible and futile.
Last Paradise
Swiss Life Prize for Collaboration 2024-2025
Villa Pérochon, Niort, from April 5 to May 25, 2025
Art Rock Festival, Saint-Brieuc, live performance on June 7, 2025
Jeu de Paume – Château de Tours, from June 20 to September 20, 2025
