A Roof for Silence is conceived as a global itinerant project that will settle temporarily and - accidentally - in dedicated spaces. 

The wandering and meandering installation will build upon a museographic circuit, both in France and internationally, inviting even the most sedentary souls to travel.

Each stopover in a prestigious cultural institution, will be an echoing response to a complementary presentation in a new and unconventional site: a public space in the city, an abbey, a port, a forest. The exhibition will unfold in different variations around a central architectural piece, the Roof for Silence, which will be anchored and integrated into each specific context.

The diversity of exhibition spaces, from the most intimate to the most unusual, will allow as many people as possible to discover the project. It will also offer the possibility of highlighting the alternative sites where A Roof for Silence will be installed, creating visibility for sites that may lacking.

Installation libre et vagabonde, elle prendra appui sur un circuit muséal en France et à l’international, pour inviter au voyage les âmes sédentaires.

Ainsi, à chaque escale dans une institution culturelle prestigieuse, répondra, en écho, une présentation complémentaire dans un site inédit et non-conventionnel : un espace public dans la ville, une abbaye, un port, une forêt. L’exposition se déclinera en différentes variations autour d’une pièce architecturale centrale, le toit pour le silence, qui viendra s’ancrer et s’intégrer dans chaque contexte spécifique.

La diversité des espaces d’exposition, du plus intimiste au plus insolite, nous permettra de faire découvrir cette œuvre au plus grand nombre. Elle offrira également la possibilité de mettre en lumière les sites alternatifs où A Roof for Silence s’installera, de créer de la visibilité sur des lieux qui n’en ont pas.

In 2022, visitors will be able to discover the installation in different forms and variations.

After that, our ambition is to travel to other countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America, to be hosted by cultural places where we share values and a common sensibility for contemporary art that challenges and questions.

After the Venice Biennale, the Pavilion will travel to different cities of the world before ending its journey in the heart of Beirut on a highly symbolic site, where it will become a new architectural and cultural emblem of the city. A place of reunion, refuge and contemplation for a city in the throes of unrest.

Palais de Tokyo, Paris 
From 15 April to 24 July 2022, A Roof for Silence os presented at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the renown contemporary art centre, as part of the collective exhibition “Réclamer la terre” (Claim the earth). It is exposed under the dome of the Palais, in a variation including the central architectural piece, the artwork of Etel Adnan and the tryptic film by Alain Fleischer.

Abbaye de Jumièges, Normandy
From 15 June to 6 November 2022, an outdoor version of the installation is presented in the ruins of the Notre-Dame Abbey in Jumièges. The project was redesigned from its main components and reinterpreted to interact with the exceptional and singular architecture of the place, and the nature that surrounds it. To this end, the paintings of Etel Adnan were reproduced on ceramic, the photographs of Fouad ElKoury are shown on vertical glass panels, and a specific musical composition, including a reading of the poem “Night” by Etel Adnan, were created by Soundwalk collective.