BAMIYAN – The Cliff and the Cave, by Pascal CONVERT

The artistic and patrimonial installation acquired by CNAP, on long-term loan to the Louvre-Lens
Exhibition
Louvre-Lens Lens
Pascal Convert, Panoramique de la Falaise de Bamiyan, Afghanistan (détail), 2016-2020

Pascal Convert, Panoramique de la Falaise de Bamiyan, Afghanistan (détail), 2016-2020 (FNAC 2020-0592 (3 à5))

Together with the Louvre-Lens, the Centre national des arts plastiques demonstrates the importance it accords to the protection and dissemination of heritage through the resonance of a contemporary rendition by an artist. Twenty years after the destruction of the two colossal Buddhas of Bamiyan, the Louvre-Lens is presenting three works from the CNAP collection by Pascal Convert. This French visual artist, writer and historian puts the preservation of memory at the centre of his practice. Made possible thanks to the combined efforts of the Louvre-Lens and CNAP, this artistic and patrimonial installation is a remarkable long-term loan for the museum.

A monumental photographic work

In 2016, responding to an invitation extended by the French Embassy, Pascal Convert travelled to Afghanistan to imagine an artistic project that would mark the destruction by the Taliban of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, on 11 March 2001. Returning to France with thousands of photographs and 3D scans of the disfigured site, he created a monumental work comprising 15 individual panels which together form a panoramic view of the cliff. This unique work is complemented by a photographic composition of the inside of a cave and a film narrating the artist’s encounter with children living at Bamiyan.

The installation will be inaugurated on 11 March. The exhibition will be in two parts:

  • 11 March 2021 - 31 July 2022

Installation in the Gallery of Time of Panoramique de la Falaise de Bâmiyân, Afghanistan (2017). A long-term loan from CNAP.

This photographic polyptych resonates with the Gallery of Time and the 5,000 years of history illustrated by the 220 works on display there. This high-definition archaeological survey – which the artist has made available to the scientific community – serves to remind us of the force but also the fragility of human legacy.

This is also the first instance of a contemporary work, on long-term loan to the Louvre-Lens, being shown in the Gallery of Time.

Pascal Convert, Panoramique de la Falaise de Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2016-2020

Pascal Convert, Panoramique de la Falaise de Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2016-2020. Inv : FNAC 2020-0592 (1 à 15)
 

  • 11 March - 24 May 2021

Installation in the Glass Pavilion of Grotte des Talibans, Afghanistan (2018) and Les Enfants de Bâmiyân (2017).

While Grotte des Talibans, Afghanistan, a monumental photographic composition, reveals the damage inflicted by the Taliban on the Bamiyan cave murals, Les Enfants de Bâmiyân (edited by Fabien Béziat) captures the present-day of the children who live among the ruins of the site to show how life has been present at these cliffs for thousands of years.

The complete text of Antres-Temps (Ritournelle de Bâmiyân), written in 2017 by the philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman as a homage to Bamiyan, will be presented inside the Glass Pavilion.

An unprecedented partnership with Centre national des arts plastiques

One of the CNAP’s essential missions is to constitute and enrich collections and to support artistic creation. The Centre has an active policy to make these works available for public viewing, primarily through short-term and long-term loans. To this end, in 2019 CNAP acquired a number of works by Pascal Convert. They include a photographic polyptych showing the Bamiyan sanctuary destroyed by the Taliban (2016-2018), purchased with funding from the Fonds du Patrimoine. This unprecedented collaboration for an exceptional acquisition has been followed by an important and exemplary long-term loan to the Louvre-Lens museum.

Additional information

”Des images et des hommes, Bâmiyân 20 ans après”, an exhibition at Musée National des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet until 21 June 2021.

At the same time as the exhibition at Louvre-Lens, the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet is presenting important archaeological artefacts uncovered at the cliffs. Photographs by Pascal Convert shed a contemporary light on this rich heritage.

Artists

Opening hours

Panoramique de la Falaise de Bâmiyân, Afghanistan: 11 March 2021 – 31 July 2022, Gallery of Time.

Grotte des Talibans, Afghanistan and Les Enfants de Bâmiyân: 11 March – 24 May 2021, Glass Pavilion.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the museum is closed to the public until further notice. When restrictions are lifted, the museum will open daily (except Tuesday), 10am to 6pm.

Prices, rates

Free admission

Address

Louvre-Lens

99 rue Paul Bert
62300 Lens
France

Updated: May 4 2021