Théo Mercier in Sea, Pop and Sun at Villa Carmignac

Discover SeaClock, 2026, by @theomercier_official_ , presented at Villa Carmignac within Sea, Pop and Sun curated by Anna Karina Hofbauer and Dieter Buchhart

The exhibition Sea, sex and sun explores the mythology of the Mediterranean and the cultural imaginaries linked to leisure, desire, and consumption. Through historical and contemporary works, it reflects on how the seaside functions as a space shaped by tourism, industry, and collective fantasy.

Created for the central space of the Villa, SeaClock takes the form of a large-scale sculptural environment where sand becomes the primary material for reflecting on human, animal, and industrial traces. Conceived as a “mutant dial” inspired by Metamorphoses, the work unfolds through shifting states, from a fossilized shoreline to a hybrid surface combining geological, organic, and manufactured elements. Under the filtered light of the water ceiling, these forms evoke a contemporary vanitas, linking the pleasures of the beach to systems of extraction, tourism, and globalized production.

Born in Paris in 1984, Mercier develops a multidisciplinary practice at the intersection of anthropology, geopolitics, and tourism. His work brings together objects, forms, and narratives to construct environments where temporalities and references collide, between past and present, fiction and reality, artisanal and industrial production. Coproduction de l’artiste et de la Fondation Carmignac.

Photos: Courtesy of the artist and Fondation Carmignac @fondationcarmignac