First presented in Berlin in 2001, Haegue Yang’s VIP’s Union (since 2001) is a collaborative conceptual artwork that consists of chairs and tables borrowed from a group of individuals considered “very important” within their own fields of local society, in this case Paris. Each time VIP’s Union is presented, the meaning of who is regarded as “very important” is shaped by and according to the context. From the various domestic or work spaces of their respective owners, these items of furniture gather in the gallery space to form a temporary community. Yang creates a kind of reversed VIP hospitality area, which is non-exclusive and freely accessible, enabled by the generosity and engagement of the lenders agreeing to share their items with the public.

VIP’s Union has been shown in institutions such as Arnolfini, Bristol (2011), Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2015), Kunsthaus Graz, Graz (2017-18), Govett-Brewster, New Plymouth (2018), Barcelona Contemporary Art Center, Barcelona (2020), and Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Antwerp (2022), among others.

For this petite version of the project in Paris, we are happy to welcome chairs of VIPs such as Jean-Paul Agon, Inaki Aizpitarte, Sarah Andelman, Audrey Azoulay/UNESCO, Agnès B, Jeanne Balibar, Lauren Bastide, Etienne Brain, Nicolas Bureau, Barbara Cassin, Catherine Deneuve, Gustavo Dudamel, Mohamed El Khatib, Didier Faustino, Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost & Dominique Perrault, Laurent Le Bon, Hampus Lindwall, Olivier Mantei, Raphael Navot, Jean Nouvel, Thomas Porcher, Alain Prochiantz, Claudia Tagbo, Jacques Toubon, Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, Hala Wardé, Sonia Wieder-Atherton, Pedro Winter.

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