Max Mara Art Prize for Women: Laure Prouvost

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Laure Prouvost, winner of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, presents the two-part installation Farfromwords: car mirrors eat raspberries when swimming through the sun, to swallow sweet smells at the Whitechapel Gallery from 20 March — 7 April 2013. The new commission is the culmination of the fourth edition of the prize. Laure Prouvost's work opens new horizons of meaning by unhinging the connection between language and understanding. Her new video and installation in Gallery 1 is inspired by the aesthetic and sensuous pleasures of Italy and plays on the historic idea of visiting the Mediterranean for inspiration. Farfromwords comprises a large-scale pavilion-like structure recalling a historical panorama. A circular space isinterspersed with collaged elements, including photographic prints, paint and pairs of video monitors showing footage of moving heads and feet. This immersive environment leads to an idyllic inner space revealing a new film, Swallow (2013). The gentle rhythm of breathing accompanies surrealist imagery and shots of blue skies, ripe fruit and modern-day nymphs. By conveying visual and sensory pleasure through fragments of footage, the film alludes to events and encounters from the artist's Italian residency split between the city of Rome and rural Biella.