Exhibition
Wolfgang Tillmans
Nothing could have prepared us – Everything could have prepared us
13 Jun - 22 Sep 2025
13 Jun - 22 Sep 2025
Wolfgang Tillmans, « Moon in Earthlight », 2015 - Courtesy of Galerie Buchholz, Chantal Crousel, Paris, Maureen Paley, London, David Zwirner, New York
From 13 June to 22 September 2025, the Centre Pompidou is giving German artist Wolfgang Tillmans free rein to create a unique project to mark the end of the exhibition programme at the centre in Paris. He is taking over the 6,000 m2 of level 2 in the Bibliothèque Publique d'Information (Bpi) and transforming the space by means of a curatorial experiment. This installation creates a dialogue between his work and the library space, questioning it both as an architectural structure and as a place for the dissemination of knowledge.
Wolfgang Tillmans, « Moon in Earthlight », 2015 - Courtesy of Galerie Buchholz, Chantal Crousel, Paris, Maureen Paley, London, David Zwirner, New York
The retrospective exhibition explores over thirty-five years of artistic practice across various photographic genres, including portraiture, still life, architecture, documentary images and abstraction. His work is displayed in a wide variety of ways, playing on the verticality of the walls and the horizontality of the tables in a manner which defies any attempt at categorisation. In addition to his photographic work, Tillmans has incorporated moving images, music, sound and words into this extensive installation, together with contributions from performance artists.
In recent years, Wolfgang Tillmans has been the subject of major retrospectives in leading institutions, notably at Tate Modern in London in 2017 and MoMA in New York in 2022. He has also presented a major exhibition entitled ‘Fragile’ which toured the African continent (2018–2022 in Kinshasa, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Addis Ababa, Yaoundé, Accra, Abidjan and Lagos). The exhibition at the Centre Pompidou is his first solo exhibition at an institution in Paris since his ambitious installation at the Palais de Tokyo in 2002. The exhibition is complemented by a catalogue and the publication of an expanded version of Tillmans’ Reader, which has been translated into French. This book is a collection of writings by and interviews with the artist.
Accès libre par Celine
As a main partner of the exhibition, the house of Celine, is colla[1]borating for the first time ever with the Centre Pompidou on the “Accès libre par Celine” initiative: offering select days of free admission to the public. This unique initiative was imagined as an open invitation to all, an opportunity to discover the world of Wolf[1]gang Tillmans and the Centre Pompidou ahead of its imminent closure.
Four days of free access, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.: June 13, July 3, August 28, and September 22, 2025.
Exhibition on level 2
€17 / Concessions €14
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Centre Pompidou, Paris
Place Georges-Pompidou
75 004 Paris
When
Due to their sexually explicit nature, some works presented in this exhibition may offend the sensitivity of viewers, especially minors.
En raison de leur caractère sexuellement explicite, certaines œuvres présentées dans cette exposition peuvent heurter la sensibilité des publics, notamment des mineurs.
Niveau 2
Booking strongly recommended
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La RATP fait la part belle à la photographie dans ses espaces
L’artiste allemand Wolfgang Tillmans a sélectionné spécialement pour la RATP des œuvres issues de l’exposition « Wolfgang Tillmans. Rien ne nous y préparait – Tout nous y préparait »
Retrouvez-les tout l’été dans 15 gares et stations du réseau opéré par la RATP.
