Visit Beauregard Castle, the immersive exhibition of Chris Morin-Eitner «Once Upon a Time Tomorrow plays with time; the past winks at the future. The works invite you on a quirky journey into the imaginaries of tomorrow, where memory and anticipation engage in a poetic dialogue.
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A trained architect and travel photographer, Chris Morin-Eitner has for several years been developing a body of work at the intersection of his two passions. Inspired by the worlds of’Hubert Robert (1733-1808) and of the Customs Officer Rousseau (1844–1910), he composed dense and lush images, in which reality blends with a fully embraced element of fiction.
Oscillating between the fantastic and a meticulous observation of the contemporary world, the artist offers a unique reading of our civilisation. His series « Once upon a time tomorrow »is a striking illustration of this: metropolises, once emblems of power and modernity, become strange Edens here, lush and silent. Nature reclaims its rights, transforming urban landscapes into visions as fascinating as they are unsettling, where an ecological meditation of rare acuity is sketched out.
When the «Illustrious» meet tomorrow
Today, it is at the Château de Beauregard that he chooses to set this active reverie. In this historic place, he juxtaposes different eras, creating a visual dialogue between heritage and contemporary creation.
In the renowned Portrait Gallery, also known as the Gallery of «Illustrious Figures» (1), the artist orchestrates a subtle encounter between centuries. The faces of yesterday seem to respond to the visions of tomorrow, as if time, suspended for a fleeting moment, finally consented to tell itself in a new way. History no longer appears as a linear succession of events, but as an uninterrupted conversation between what was, what is, and what might come to be.
" We left the windows open and the park's famous kinetic garden, created by the landscape architect Gilles Clément, entered the Beauregard castle. The garden has, as if by osmosis, literally invaded the Portrait Gallery. Through the centuries, draped in their vegetal splendour, the Illustrious look down on us. What about the man of the world he inherited from and took possession of without sharing? Will he be content to quietly consume it until the end, until exhaustion? «Science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul» whispers wisely Rabelais (1483 or 1494-1553), one of the illustrious figures in the portrait gallery, his hair now botanical. The images in the series tell of this reconciliation of humanity with nature, meaning with itself. »explains Chris Morin Eitner.
A portrait gallery turned forest
In this monumental image, one of the «Illustrious», Richelieu (1585-1642), seems to have broken free from the rigid framework of History to enter a recomposed, almost organic world, where the vegetal redefines the contours of reality.
His face, rendered with almost painterly precision, retains the solemnity of ceremonial portraits. But around him, the universe is tilting: vegetation infiltrates the ornaments, climbs along the mouldings, spills out of the frame as if nature were silently reclaiming the space. Vines, dense foliage, and flashes of almost tropical light disrupt the classic order of the representation, blurring the boundaries between heritage and imagination.
The ’illustrious« is no longer just a historical figure frozen in collective memory; it is becoming a witness to a changing world, suspended between an imaginary museum, a regenerating forest, and an expanding future.
For this exhibition, Chris Morin-Eitner has had all his creations printed on vast swathes of fabric, unfurled from floor to ceiling. Visitors no longer merely observe the works – they move through them. The portrait gallery is transformed into a forest of images, immersive, lush, and wild, where History itself seems to be gradually enveloped by the living.
1 – The term «Illustrious» n’a pas été choisi au hasard : il renvoie à la notion d’hommes et de femmes illustres dont les actions ont marqué l’histoire.
And allr
Château de Beauregard
12 Fontaine Road
41120 CELLETTES.
https://beauregard-loire.com/il-etait-une-fois-demain-beauregard-de-chris-morin-eitner/
To discover until the castle's annual closure on 11 November.
Text : Michèle Lasseur
Photos : Château de Beauregard
