HELLO, MY NAME IS LILI AND WE ARE MANY | LILI REYNAUD-DEWAR

French multidisciplinary artist Lili Reynaud-Dewar (1975) dances, writes, teaches, and creates objects and installations. In her work, she does not follow a single thread but attempts to examine social and political issues from an aesthetic perspective.
With the project Hello, my name is Lili and we are many, exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo, Reynaud-Dewar seeks to explore the role of the artist by showing and blending both private and public life perspectives.

A hotel room is set up within the exhibition space: two angled walls covered in yellow and red striped wallpaper; a dark wooden wardrobe with two mirrors mounted on the doors; a bed covered with white sheets, with the headboard made of the same dark wood as the wardrobe, and the fabric covering the foots of the bed is coordinated with the wallpaper; two nightstands on either side of the bed, on which two lamps emit a soft warm light. The atmosphere is intimate and welcoming.
Above the bed, mounted on the wall, there is a screen projecting a video: a person, lying on the bed in a hotel room identical to the one set up for the exhibition, is talking with another person positioned behind the frame. This hidden presence is none other than the artist herself, who, after experiencing and recording this glimpse of private life, decided to recreate it in the exhibition space, making it effectively public.
Behind the panel serving as a wall, the name of the person appearing in the video, the date, and the location of the dialogue are indicated.
Reynaud-Dewar has set the scene to allow the viewer full involvement: it is possible to sit on the bed, even lie down, and listen to the video’s protagonists talking, imagining being there with them.

Hello, my name is Lili and we are many consists of a total of nine rooms, each narrating a different moment and faithfully arranged in comparison to its real counterpart (visible in the video projected above each bed). The project serves as a diary, a private and at the same time public account that talks about episodes occurred during the exhibition period. Dialogues, thoughts, feelings, from which it is possible to distinguish the artist’s personal and professional relationships.

Lili Reynaud-Dewar
Hello, my name is Lili and we are many, 2023
Exhibition view at Palais de Tokyo, 19.10.23 – 07.01.24
Courtesy the artist, photo by Aurélien Mole ©

Lili Reynaud-Dewar, “Hello, my name is Lili and we are many”, 2023. Exhibition view at Palais de Tokyo, 19.10.23 – 07.01.24
Courtesy the artist, photo by Aurélien Mole ©

20/01/2024