Laure Prouvost 'They Parlaient Idéale' at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Marseille, France

5 June 2025

Until 11 January 2026, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Marseille presents They Parlaient Idéale (2019) by Laure Prouvost. Echoing Mother, We Sea, a unique monumental installation, created in the heart of the chapel of the Centre de la Vieille Charité in Marseille, the film They Parlaient Idéale (2019) presented in the [mac]room, an experimental space dedicated to contemporary creation, explores another facet of the artist's work.

Laure Prouvost, videographer, visual artist, and performer, is interested in cross-cultural mixing, the poetry of languages, and the singularities that make up communities. Produced in 2019 for the French Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, They Parlaient Idéale invites us on a journey between Nanterre, the slag heaps of the Pas-de-Calais mining basin, the Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval, the creeks of Marseille, and finally Venice. The protagonists of this journey, of different cultures, languages, and ages, each have a specific talent: a Franco-Gabonese hip-hop dancer, a retired schoolteacher and headdress maker, a Senegalese actor and musician, a Parisian flautist, and more.

The title They Parlaient Idéale demonstrates Laure Prouvost's interest in language games. The voiceover text, that of the artist, describes the stages of the journey in several languages, in English or French, but the subtitles, sometimes absent, often offbeat, introduce a poetic dimension to the language. Sung or spoken in English, French, but also in Arabic and Italian, they connect the characters together, like a choir or a brass band. Finally, the language captures the viewer's attention and takes them on the journey. "Are you ready"?!

Find out more via the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Image: Laure Prouvost, They Parlaient Idéale, 2019, HD video, Dimensions variable, © Laure Prouvost, Courtesy Lisson Gallery.