Outremonde is a series of living exhibitions initiated by Théo Mercier in 2021. Like a “gray zone” where the white cube of the museum and the black box of the theater meet, this series of exhibition-performances brings together for the first time the artist’s two practices as sculptor and stage director. The first Outremonde, presented in 2021 at the Collection Lambert in Avignon in collaboration with the Festival d’Avignon, served as a pilot for a three-part series that continued the following year with Outremonde II – Dream hunters at Luma Westbau Zurich (2022), then Outremonde III – The sleeping chapter at the Conciergerie in Paris (2022).

Using sand borrowed and sourced locally, Dream hunters is an experimental escape into the depths of night, REM sleep or conscious dreaming. In the heart of a white cube, we discover a landscape of unmade beds, silently guarded by a dozen obsidian-eyed hounds. The imprint of bodies, the fold of sheets, the echo of breaths and the pulsation of light, all tailor-made by the artist, materialize these invisible presences, tirelessly watched over by sleepless dogs.

Gliding from deserted landscape to living landscape, a series of performances in the guise of an initiatory, psychedelic tale explores the mystery of the exhibition. Guided by an omniscient child, the audience embarks on a sleep tour punctuated by somnambulistic encounters. By adopting a child’s and animal’s view of the night, Dream Hunters gives substance to the vanity and eternity that lurk in our beds.