L’Onde du Midi in the Louvre

2020 DE/FR 

Director’s statement 

I met Elias Crespin when I was making a documentary about his grandmother, the artist GEGO, for the Kunsthalle in Hamburg. In 2019, he asked me to make a short film for his major project in the Palais du Louvre: L’Onde du Midi.
From the conversation we had with the artist in his studio in Ivry that November, I remember this sentence:
»I would like my artwork, which occupies a transitional space between galleries, to be like a pause that offers the viewer an experience, a gift.«


The Louvre has commissioned another major public artwork, inviting Elias Crespin to design a permanent piece for the museum. The Venezuelan artist chose to install his kinetic creation in the Colonnade of the prestigious Escalier du Midi designed by Napoleon I’s architects Percier and Fontaine. Discover the behind-the-scenes of the installation, a mobile sculpture made up of 128 metal tubes hanging from motor-powered cables. “L’Onde du Midi” performs a subtle choreography consisting of several configurations: as the stage of a mute ballet, the Colonnade becomes a space where museum visitors can enjoy a moment of rest and contemplation. This ambitious project continues a long-standing tradition at the Louvre, which has since its beginnings provided an ideal architectural setting for painted and sculpted commissions from living artists. Crespin thus follows in the footsteps of Georges Braque (The Birds, 1953, Salle Henri II), Anselm Kiefer (Athanor, 2007, northern staircase of Perrault’s Colonnade), François Morellet (L’Esprit d’Escalier, 2010, Lefuel staircase) and Cy Twombly (The Ceiling, 2010, Bronzes room).


Documentary8 min.

Featuring: Elias Crespin
Written by: Nathalie David
Directed by: Nathalie David & Valery Faidherbe

Original Score: Hervé Rigaud (inspired by J.S. Bach’s Suites Anglaises)

Cinematography: Nathalie David & Valery Faidherbe
Sound Recording: Nathalie David
Sound Design & Mix: Hervé Rigaud
Animation & Title Design: Valery Faidherbe
Editor: Nathalie David

Production Manager: Sophie Timbal
Producer: Nathalie David – PITCHOUNPRODUCTION
Post Production: Martin Heckmann
French Subtitling: Anne Portugal

Commissioned by: Musée du Louvre
©Musée du Louvre 2020