DIANA VELÁSQUEZ, L ATTENTE (THE WAIT) From 9 December 2020 to 24 February 2021, the Rmn - Grand Palais invited Colombian artist Diana Velásquez, born in 1978 in Bogota and currently living and working in Madrid, to present her work L Attente(The Wait), composed of 10 canvases 5 metres high by 2 metres wide, on the columns of the façade of the Grand Palais on avenue Winston Churchill. Taking advantage of the space between each column, the piece featured a queue of elderly people waiting, each keeping their distance from the person in front, inviting us to reflect on the precarious situation into which the pandemic has plunged us all but which has the most serious impact on the most vulnerable among us.
The current pandemic has represented a break- down in our condition and our well-being. The entire population, without the distinction of race or age, has been taken out of action, as there was no way to avoid it. We have had to wait for information, news, progress, measures, policies, (...) a vaccine. We have had to wait, in lockdown, meaning without the ability to do anything or to interact beyond our bubble. We have and contin- ue to have a conscious expectation that the new order will not make us disappear.
Diana Velásquez
With her installation, Diana Velásquez has enabled the Grand Palais, a monument to the Republic, to take part in resolutely contemporary debates, thus prefiguring the artistic ambition of the new Grand Palais. An interview of the artist broadcast on so- cial networks and on the Grand Palais website ena- bled the non-Parisian public to discover this work. This video was viewed more than 18,000 times.
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