Un village sans frontières

Chen Zhen's installation Un Village sans frontières (A Village without Borders), housed in the Pinault Collection, is a group of five small houses made of coloured candles on children's chairs. The artist is pursuing a project in Brazil with street children, to whom he suggested imagining the houses of their dreams. Through the five pieces, associated with the five continents, he envisages a universal space where the viewer can move from one end of the world to the other.

Chen Zhen's last work before his death in 2000, this project echoes his protocol, the "transexperience" based on three principles: residence, resonance, resistance. Born in Shanghai in 1955, he moved to Paris in 1986. Throughout his career, he reflected on the links between East and West. With his works, the result of listening, investigating and observing, he seeks to transcend all borders.

Chen Zhen's Un Village sans frontières was first presented at the exhibition "Qui a peur des artistes ?" (“Who’s Afraid of Artists?”) at the Palais des Arts in Dinard in 2009.