In Conversation: Chiara Vecchiarelli and Andrea Viliani on ‘Louise Bourgeois. Papillons Noirs’

To mark the closing of the exhibition ‘Louise Bourgeois. Papillons Noirs’, the inaugural presentation at Hauser & Wirth St. Moritz, please join us for a discussion between critic and curator Andrea Viliani and curator Chiara Vecchiarelli. This discussion will explore the themes and works central to the exhibition, which comprises a selection of works from the last decade of Louise Bourgeois’s life, including a series of black fabric heads and late experimental pieces on paper.

The title of the exhibition, ‘Papillons Noirs’, is drawn from one of Bourgeois’s ‘psychoanalytic writings’, a group of texts written while she was undergoing intensive psychoanalysis. Penned on a loose sheet of paper dated 31 January 1966, the phrase is an old French metaphor for melancholic thoughts, and references her depression and anxiety. She often referred to colour as representative of emotional states; for her, black was symbolic of mourning, despair, regret and guilt.

‘Papillons Noirs’ is curated by Jerry Gorovoy, who worked closely with Bourgeois from the early 1980s until her death in 2010.

The discussion will begin at 5 pm and will be held in English

Please RSVP to Brigitte Champman
[email protected]