Clément Cogitore. The Evil Eye
Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia, Venice
From May 9th May until November 23rd, 2025
At the intersection of contemporary art and architectural critique, The Evil Eye, a video installation by celebrated French artist Clément Cogitore, is the focal point at Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia. Presented in parallel with the 2025 Architecture Biennale, the exhibition is part of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s ambitious hors-les-murs programme, and has been designed to bring museum quality installations to its global spaces, including Tokyo, Munich, Beijing, Seoul and Osaka.
Clément Cogitore, whose practice bridges ethnography, dance, cinema and visual culture, is no stranger to acclaim, after all, he’s a three-time César Award nominee with films selected for Cannes’Semaine de la Critique. We see him walk the line between tradition and modernity, ritual and rupture, and in The Evil Eye, originally created in 2018 for the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Prize, and which it won, this French artist and filmmaker delivers a critique of consumerism and mass manipulation.
Set against the backdrop of overexposed green screen imagery and archival footage, the video piece constructs a dystopian vision of happiness that’s been manufactured by design. Here, urban planning, architecture and commodified aesthetics contribute offers a sense of cultural alienation, presenting bigger picture questions about identity, the fragility of collective memory and the seductive-meets-sinister power of imagery.
Inviting the viewer to consider how spaces, both physical and ideological shape our life and sense of self, The Evil Eye offers a moment of critical reflection amid the bustle of the biennale.
For further information fondationlouisvuitton.fr.
