The largest exhibition of Paris-based conceptual artist Laurent Grasso’s work in the United States, Metaphysical Maze will transform MASS MoCA’s signature Building 5 gallery into a labyrinthine installation conceived as a journey across a selection of Grasso’s films, objects, and paintings, presented together for the first time in an exhibition space.

The entanglement of humans and the profound transformations of nature and climate merge with celestial phenomena in Metaphysical Maze, inviting viewers to stretch their perception of time and space. More than an exhibition, Metaphysical Maze extends Grasso’s persistent interest in creating mesmerizing visuals that blend the real and the artificial, the past, present, and future, to the expansive scale of MASS MoCA, creating a thoroughly immersive experience where visitors can float above reality and lose track of time. During the run of the exhibition sites across campus and beyond will play host to further artworks related to, yet independent of, the featured films.

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 the subject of 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, Artificialis, 2020 (video still). Courtesy of the artist.

Supported by Etant donnés, a program of Villa Albertine.