THE MUSÉE-VALISE : THE IMAGINARY SEA

From 31 July to 04 August 2025

The Fondation Carmignac presents the Musée-Valise: The Imaginary Sea, a miniature travelling museum designed as a modern-day cabinet of curiosities for hospitals and prisons.

The aim of the musée-valiseproject is to take a single box and encapsulate all the riches of a contemporary art exhibition exploring the conceit of a subaquatic natural history museum.

FROM ISLAND TO ROOM:THE BLUE BOX

The musée-valise is a travelling version of the exhibition The Imaginary Sea, curated at the Villa Carmignac, Porquerolles Island, by Chris Sharp in 2021. It is designed to act as a miniature theatre on wheels, with each scene revealing new works of art. As the case stages its own choreographed opening, works of art by the likes of Bianca Bondi, Jean Painlevé and Yves Klein come into view in a play of light, sound and animated images. Hidden mechanisms inspired by stage magic, precision electronics tucked in the hinges, and a moving screen all add to the sense of drama in theminiature museum locked away in a wooden chest.

  • © Photo : Thibaut Chapotot pour la Fondation Carmignac
  • © Julien Discrit - Pierre (Double hélice), 2023-2025 – sculpture / ©ADAGP, Paris, 2025 Hubert Duprat – De la pelle à la rame, 2025 – sculpture / ©ADAGP, Paris, 2025 Michael E. Smith - Untitled, 2011 – photographie Yves Klein - Fiole contenant du pigment pur bleu (dipositif scénographique) / ©Succession Klein c/o ADAGP, Paris, 2025 Photo : Thibaut Chapotot pour la Fondation Carmignac
  • © Micha Laury, Méduses, 2021 - Sculpture en silicone /©ADAGP, Paris, 2025 Photo : Thibaut Chapotot pour la Fondation Carmignac
  • © Nicolas Floc’h, /©ADAGP, Paris, 2025 Photo : Thibaut Chapotot pour la Fondation Carmignac
  • © Bianca Bondi, The Fall and Rise, 2021 - 2023 - Sculpture et installation à base de cristallisation de sel /© ADAGP, Paris, 2025 Photo : Thibaut Chapotot pour la Fondation Carmignac
  • © Photo : Thibaut Chapotot pour la Fondation Carmignac
  • © Photo : Thibaut Chapotot pour la Fondation Carmignac

THE FONDATION CARMIGNAC

The foundation was established in 2000 by the entrepreneur Édouard Carmignac, CEO of the asset management firm Carmignac Gestion. There are three strands to its activities. The Collection Carmignac now holds over three hundred works of contemporary art. The Carmignac Photojournalism Award selects one investigative photoreportage project a year for financial support, while the Villa Carmignac on Porquerolles Island offers visitors aprogramme of temporary exhibitions and artistic events held in over 2000 square metres of exhibition space and 15 hectares of grounds in a protected natural site.