At the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, viewers are invited to follow the Franco-Tunisian artist, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean

Ingrid Luquet-Gad

Beyond the waves: Alex Ayed’s journey

Alex Ayed is already sailing offshore. Where? Amidst the blue and salty vastness. In a space that suspends ordinary time, making way for imaginary tales and picaresque poetry. 
It must be said that everything had been carefully orchestrated down to the very last detail. Last October, during the second edition of Paris+ par Art Basel, the artist inaugurated his evolving exhibition at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

The title of the show, ‘Farewell’, is to be taken at face value. Within the foundation’s ‘Open Space’, a program showcasing emerging artists, Ayed (who was born in 1989 and graduated from Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2015), bid land dwellers farewell. The day of the opening, the artist embarked on a world tour by boat. Visitors can follow his odyssey through the main work in the show: various screens mounted on a tall radio antenna display his daily observations, poems, and other micro-narratives. 
In Paris, Ayed simultaneously presented ‘Letters from Kattegat’ at Balice Hertling, a solo show expanding on a series of wall-mounted works made by stretching weathered sails over canvas. As part of Paris+ par Art Basel’s public program, the artist had installed a dovecote in the Tuileries Garden, crafted from olive wood, clay, and whitewashed straw – providing respite for flying messengers.

In 2021 Ayed participated in the two-person show, ‘Laws of Confusion’, with Lydia Ourahmane at the Renaissance Society in Chicago, and was included the same year in the New Museum Triennial, ‘Soft Water, Hard Stone’, in New York. Materials are always symbolic in the artist’s practice; olive oil and desert sand carry myths without words from North Africa. Another recurrent presence within his minimal sculptural gestures: dead animals – a seagull, a chameleon, a grasshopper. The works resemble characters in a fable, entrusted to the elements and swept away by the wind.
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Alex Ayed is represented by <a href="https://parisplus.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1340/Balice-Hertling" target="_blank">Balice Hertling</a>, Paris.
‘Farewell’ Until February 19, 2024 Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 
Ingrid Luquet-Gad is an art critic and PhD candidate based in Paris. She teaches art philosophy at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
Published on&nbsp;January&nbsp;4, 2024.
Caption for full-bleed image:&nbsp;Alex Ayed, Petit Piton. Off the coast of Saint Lucia, (detail) 2023 © Alex Ayed.

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