Chasing Napoleon

The Palais de Tokyo’s eclectic autumn show, Chasing Napoleon feels like a science class project that has gone terribly wrong and it features the work of 18 artists from around the globe. Arguably the most interesting thing exhibited is a series of paintings by scientist, painter and arcane symbolist Paul Laffoley. His large-scale, mathematically detailed pieces appear to detail a range of invented religions, and were actually conceived in preparation for an electro-shock session that Laffoley set up in the 60s (believing he was about to launch himself in the "fifth dimension" and depart from the physical world for good). The psychedelic, divinatory aesthetics make you unsure whether you are looking at utter madness or future-prophecy. Next to these works another form of dementia is exposed – one demonstrating the mechanical, frenetical inventory of every single street and house in Reykjavik (artist Dieter Roth is showing a total of 33,000 photographic slides of the city!). There are also bizarre, torture-like installations in the show that consist of locking art punters into a large fridge, in order to give the effect of being in the middle of a "frozen arctic winter" (claustrophobics beware!). The inside of this fridge is pitch-black and consists of a dentist-like seat, where one sits while electrical charges go off all around the room.

There are a few more large-scale pieces here, such as a closed, life-size cabin (supposedly the reproduction of the cabin in Montana where Theodore Kaczynski, aka The Unabomber locked himself while awaiting  "the collapse of the technological system"). One cannot enter the cabin, which can perhaps be considered symbolic – in that that one could not possibly ever enter the mental cage Kaczynski had locked himself into. Nearby, Christoph Büchel is showing a new piece, which is a reproduction of the under-earth mud hut in which Saddam Hussein was found hiding. With the help of the staff and a ladder, one can actually enter the miniscule space, not that many people seemed to want to. Although it is impossible to delineate the overall concept of the show, one thing is sure – science and delirium come together harmoniously here, to the delight of hipsters, tourists and nutters alike.

Palais de Tokyo, 13 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris, France until January 17, 2010.