Metaphysical Maze is the largest exhibition to date in the United States devoted to French conceptual artist Laurent Grasso. Installed in the museum’s iconic Building 5, Metaphysical Maze will take the form of an immersive installation bringing together, for the first time, the artist’s most emblematic films, along with Cosmic Drive (2026), produced during his research residency at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.

Conceived as a journey, the exhibition will immerse visitors in a contemplative state that expands the perception of time. The installation will extend beyond the realm of film to include new works — paintings, sculptures, and architectural interventions — forming a whole. In Grasso’s universe, all lines are blurred: artworks are presented without specific titles, dates, or identifying labels. Within the exhibition time appears suspended, unfolding a carefully orchestrated environment. “Entering my exhibition,” says the artist, “is like walking into a forest — an imaginary landscape where you wander without trying to identify every species of tree.”

Using three X-shaped structures specially designed to span the length of the former industrial space, Grasso turns the gallery into an immersive machine of vision. Each section holds videos and artworks all of which upend traditional depictions of time. These structures also draw inspiration from Sol LeWitt’s geometric works which are on view in his A Wall Drawing Retrospective installed in MASS MoCA’s adjacent gallery and establish a dialogue between the two exhibitions. Each architectural element is positioned at a 45-degree angle to the next, creating shifting sightlines that encourage visitors to move around and between the structures. As visitors navigate the space, their changing perspectives create a sense of continuous movement, reinforcing the impression of being inside a living mechanism, evoking time travel, a theme Grasso has explored throughout his career.

The focal point of Grasso’s practice are his films. Metaphysical Maze unites five works which look at shifting perceptions, invisible forces, and the resonance of landscape: OttO (2018), Anima (2022), Orchid Island (2023), Geophonia (2024), and Cosmic Drive (2026).

The most recent of these, Cosmic Drive, was shot on location at and around the SETI Institute, a non-profit research organization that studies the emergence of life in extreme environments and beyond Earth. It was inspired by the result of Grasso’s residency at SETI and his conversations with astrobiologist and Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research Nathalie Cabrol’s quest to understand the origins of life in the universe.

Grasso punctuates the exhibition with works across various media that evoke strange phenomena, many of which appear in his films. These include his ongoing series Studies into the Past, a deliberately undated series that references historical painting, while introducing singularities that immediately unsettle their interpretation. This merger of past, present, and future is intended to produce a sense of confusion in the viewer when it comes to time, as well as a false historical memory.

New works related to Cosmic Drive include Cosmic Mirrors (2026), a series of hammered stainless-steel panels installed in the gallery windows with subtle painted interventions that evoke the optical phenomena produced by gravitational lenses. Other works include Future Herbarium (2026), a large white-bronze sculpture related to the film Orchid Island, which imagines the possible mutations of a post-disaster herbarium and Solar Wind (2026), an LED screen version of Grasso’s 2016 permanent light installation in Paris. Throughout MASS MoCA, Grasso has placed a series of neon signs (2024-6) which reference flame and cloud motifs seen in the film Anima. The neons move from the exterior facade of the museum through the galleries leading the way to Metaphysical Maze.

Opening Weekend:
In Conversation: Laurent Grasso, Saturday, November 7, 4pm
Opening Celebration, Saturday, November 7, 5:30pm

Related Books and Editions Available in MASS MoCA’s Stores:
Laurent Grasso: Time Travel, a visual journey of the artist’s avant-garde, conceptual work.

Additional Satellite Exhibitions organized with the artist:
Metaphysical Maze: Laurent Grasso at Frederic Church’s Olana State Historic Site, on view November 22, 2026 through March 28, 2027.

Metaphysical Maze: Laurent Grasso at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, on view November 22, 2026 through March 28, 2027.

Metaphysical Maze: Laurent Grasso at Burlington City Arts, on view February 5, 2027 through May 8, 2027.

About the Artist:
Born in France in 1972, Laurent Grasso has developed a fascination with the visual possibilities related to the science of electromagnetic energy, radio waves, and naturally occurring phenomena. Grasso is the recipient of the Meru Art*Science Award in Bergamo, Italy; the Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres; and the Marcel Duchamp Prize. He is the subject of a major monograph, Time Travel, published by Rizzoli in 2024. Grasso’s work has been shown in solo exhibitions at international institutions including the Abbaye of Jumièges, in France, Tao Art in Taiwan, the Collège des Bernardins and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum in Shanghai, the Jeonnam Museum of Art in Gwangyang, South Korea, the Palais Fesch, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Ajaccio, France, the Hermès Foundation in Tokyo, the Kunsthaus Baselland in Switzerland, the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Montréal, the Jeu de Paume and Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Bass Museum of Art in Miami, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C. amongst others. Grasso has been included in many international biennials including the 21st Sydney Biennale, Australia (2018); EVA International, Limerick, Ireland (2018); Kochi, India (2014); Gwangju 9th, South Korea (2012); Manifesta 8, Cartagena/ Murcia, Spain (2010); Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (2009); Moscow, Russia (2009); and Busan, South Korea (2004 and 2006). Laurent Grasso has recently created several permanent installations in public spaces including Solar Wind on the Paris ring road, and a group of sculptures entitled Roots of the Future, which was installed for the 2024 Paris Olympic Village. Grasso was also commissioned to create a permanent site-specific installation for the ceiling of the new train station in Châtillon-Montrouge, as part of the Grand Paris project. Laurent Grasso is represented by Perrotin and Sean Kelly.

Download a PDF of the exhibition gallery guide here.

Curated by Denise Markonish, guest curator.

Premier support for Metaphysical Maze is provided by Xtina and James R. Parks. Major support is provided by Anne and Greg Avis, Matthew Bliwise and Nicole Deller, Wolf Gordon, Sonance, and Étant donnés, a program of Villa Albertine. Sustaining support is provided by Kelly and Bill Kaiser.

_{MASS MoCA’s Building 5 exhibitions are made possible in part by the support of the MASS MoCA Ambassadors.}

The artist wishes to thank the SETI Institute for its support through the artist residency, particularly Bettina Forget and Nathalie Cabrol; Caroline and Ivan Rossignol, Nelson Rocher, Carola Jain, and the Art Contemporary Foundation for their generous support; and his galleries, Sean Kelly, Perrotin, and Pedro Cera, for their continued support.

_{The film Cosmic Drive was produced with the support of Étant donnés, a program of Villa Albertine and the Albertine Foundation.}