Laure Prouvost, winner of the Turner Prize in 2013, is taking over the Manufacture’s exhibition hall with a monumental immersive installation that combines films, sculptures, tapestries – 15 metres long – and language.
Roubaix, a city emblematic of the textile industry, experienced a meteoric rise thanks to the industrialisation of the 19th century. As early as the Middle Ages, Lord Pierre de Roubaix obtained a charter from Charles the Bold allowing the town to produce ‘lawfully cloth of all wool’ (1469). It was with wool that Roubaix forged its identity, while Lille concentrated on linen. This industrial development saw the emergence of almost 300 factories, giving rise to great textile dynasties such as the Toulemonde, Motte, Pollet, Masurel and Prouvost families.
Amédée Prouvost came from a farming family with links to the textile industry, and it was in 1851 that he founded ‘Le peignage Amédée Prouvost et Cie’ with the Lefebvre family. Two generations later, it was Jean Prouvost who created Lainière in 1911, in order to transform the raw material into yarn. Thus was born the Penguin brand of mass-market wool. An avid newspaperman, he bought up a number of print media titles, including Paris Match and Marie Claire. Two generations later, Evelyne Prouvost founded the Marie-Claire group in 1976.
Today, Laure Prouvost, a descendant of this great line of entrepreneurs, has the same passion for adventure and risk-taking.
After studying at the Institut Supérieur d’Arts Saint-Luc Tournai in Belgium, she crossed the Channel to continue her studies at Central Saint Martins and then Goldsmiths College in London. She then moved to Brussels, where she opened her studio.
Her inspirations are manifold, and the parallels with the Roubaix textile region come naturally when you find yourself at the heart of this tapestry, illustrated with words, language and images. These two monumental Jacquard pieces resonate with the museum’s industrial past and its collections of weaving looms.
This installation by Laure Prouvost is an invitation to escape, both geographically and psychologically. It depicts an abandoned place, littered with rubbish, where nature reclaims its rights. We wander along a winding path, punctuated by absurdly poetic notes, like little handwritten tweets etched into the canvas.
You feel like you’re breaking the law, ignoring an imaginary ‘no trespassing’ sign. It’s as if you’re crossing a torn-down fence, only to find yourself on the other side, amidst torn-off branches, shards of glass, pieces of ceramics, found objects, blown newspaper leaves and wild flowers…
The large tapestry, a technical feat by the Belgian company Flanders Tapestries, is itself composed of natural and synthetic fibres… The textile design work is also remarkable, with a mastery of colour and weave that give relief to the piece.
An installation to be discovered at La Manufacture as part of the new edition of Lille 3000, Fiesta!
