Höhle by Philippe Durand opens a dialogue between the pre-historic Chauvet Cave and contemporary forms of photography, following the holistic approach of image making already applied in the paleolithique 36’000 years ago.
The journey begins in the elevator, where 17 metres of immersive prints from Chauvet, l’aventure intérieure unfold before the visitors’ eyes as they travel towards the floor leading to GUTS.
In the main room, Durand presents a series of bas-relief photographs of Chauvet, made in collaboration with Ricoh in Japan and displayed on cardboard stalactites and stalagmites derived from the meshes of 3D cave models. On the floor, grids are fixed onto marble pebbles through photographic emulsion, deforming with the relief and curves of the stones and extending the image into the physical space.
Through these different approaches, Höhle explores the boundary between image and object, vision and touch, material reality and imagination/projection. Rather than treating photography as a fixed, two-dimensional medium, the installation considers how an image can acquire depth, texture, and physical presence.
Höhle thus becomes an experience of re-enchantment, where prehistoric memory, tactile perception, and contemporary image-making converge.