In the Meridians sector, your trip into the unknown starts at Laure Prouvost’s travel agency

Laure Prouvost has made a name for herself with her quirky – sometimes laugh-out-loud funny – videos and installations, laced with wordplay and double entendres. The French-born, UK and Belgium-based artist represented France at the last Venice Biennale, where she received critical acclaim for an oneiric pavilion that touched on topics as varied as the ecological crisis, magic, and the biennale situation itself with a wild ride of a video travelogue. At Art Basel Miami Beach, Prouvost – together with Lisson Gallery (Booth M7) – will present the latest version of her fictional travel agency, DEEP TRAVEL Ink (2016-2018), in the newly launched Meridians sector. She spoke to Art Basel’s Coline Milliard about connecting with our subconscious, her Dada hero Kurt Schwitters – and explained why, for her, art is often a family affair.

Coline Milliard: Could you tell us about your collaboration with your ‘Uncle’?

Laure Prouvost: The agency was designed by my Uncle. Every Christmas, he talked about this idea of a travel agency. So, when I was offered a space to use in the center of Frankfurt, he wanted to try it out, and now it’s coming to Miami. He asked me to make a video which takes you Deeper ... to help you For Forgetting. At DEEP TRAVEL Ink, you can also taste squid ink vodka at the bar that one of our cousins sometimes runs. Collecting ink has been an important artistic endeavor – to communicate with each other ... but also to be connected to the creatures that were here long before us. The Deep See Blue water tank recalls our connection to the ocean as well as to the world of tentacles and suggests how our senses can be developed in new ways – our brain extending to our extremities.

CM: How does DEEP TRAVEL Ink relate to Miami Beach?

LP: Miami was always a place my Uncle dreamed of going to, set up an outpost of DEEP TRAVEL Ink, and have the chance to feel the sun shining on his face. It seems the perfect place for people to go beyond appearance and deep into their subconscious. When the offer came to open another branch in Florida, it was a no-brainer.

CM: Do you see this piece as political in some ways?

LP: We all travel a lot these days, but how can we go into our subconscious to find desires other than just through physical movement? My Grand Dad had this ethos. He has been lost for years in the tunnel of history, digging from the north of England towards Africa. He enjoyed the way of life there, but mostly did this as his last conceptual piece of art, to see how far he could go without the authorities knowing about it. I think a lot of us feel we don’t have a grasp on our realities and want to physically dig our way through the earth to tunnel out of the world. It has been years since we last saw him. DEEP TRAVEL Ink is a homage to his work, and his quest to go deeper always and connect with the elements.

CM: References to Kurt Schwitters crop up in the DEEP TRAVEL Ink, and he’s been a very significant figure in your practice for years. What’s your relationship to him and his practice?

LP: Kurt Schwitters is a good friend of our family. As my Grand Ma has too many of his sculptures in her home, she suggested we take some to fix the office chairs in Miami. Schwitters’s plays on words are free from convention, they let go of the system, have a sense of freedom and liberation, or half-getting the system and transgressing it. His influence is also about giving strength to this imperfect language – an imperfect inglish that can be very poetic and open itself up to misunderstandings. It was important for my Uncle and I to create a familiar space. As you take a seat and wait to be taken care of, you start seeing elements that take you deeper. This invitation goes beyond you tasting Grand Ma’s tea, enter the For Forgetting video room, it’s the idea you can own everything – the sky, the stars, all the experiences you have; connect with all of your memories and experiences.

The Meridians sector, newly launched for Art Basel Miami Beach 2019, will feature 34 expansive projects by artists including Prouvost, Frank Bowling, Isaac Julien, Candice Lin, and Luciana Lamothe. Discover all projects here.

Laure Prouvost is represented by Lisson Gallery (London, New York City, Shanghai), Carlier Gebauer (Berlin, Madrid), and Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Paris, Brussels). 

Coline Milliard is Art Basel's Deputy Editor.

Top image: Laure Prouvost. © Giorgio Benni. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London, New York City, and Shanghai.