To celebrate in splendour the year of China at the Guimet, monumental and spectacular installations will be taking over the museum with a modern and imaginative interpretation of Chinese cultural and mythological symbols.

The Guadian's of Time
‍From late April until February 2025, the Guimet is inviting designer and visual artist Jiang Qiong Er from Shanghai to create a dialogue with this important centre for Asian Arts through a unique installation.

For Guardians of Time, Jiang Qiong Er’s work will be taking over several emblematic areas of the museum, taking the visitor on a stirring and captivating journey through a visionary reflection on time, between tradition and technology, heritage and innovation, memory and imagination.

For Origin, the facade of the building at Place d’Iéna will be entirely covered with red tulle, adorning the museum with the colours of China and creating a bridge between past and present. The museum will be ‘reborn’ as a contemporary reinterpretation of the Chinese grottoes of Mogao, Yungang and Longmen, whichboast some of the finest examples of cave art. Assisted by artificial intelligence,Jiang Qiong Er has created twelve mythical creatures which the artist believes represent the essential values of the 21st century. These creatures appear at the top of the rotunda and on the windows of the facade, as if they were guarding modern-day grottoes. Inspired by legendary Chinese creatures, each one tells aunique story, and in celebration of the Year of the Dragon, each incorporates dragon iconography in their morphology. The birth of twelve new creatures torepresent a new, 21st century bestiary.

The entrance hall becomes the stage for Initiation. The pillars of the entrance willbe different shades of the propitiatory colour red, each with a specific poeticmeaning to the Chinese.

The historic library on the first floor will feature a visual and sound installation, TheTwelve Calls. A bronze statue of each of the twelve mythical creatures from thefacade will be placed in a circle: Authenticity, Fraternity, Inclusion, Peace, Equality,Benevolence, Time, Exploration, Bravery, Nature, Wisdom and Freedom. As they seem to float in the air, the murmur of different languages fills the air, bringing tolife the centuries-old artwork on the walls.

On the roof garden, The Voice of Bravery is a gigantic net suspended above the rooftop of the museum, on which the collective poetic words of sixty Chinese women are embroidered, using a new “women’s script” inspired by nu shu. Longago, nu shu was the only script in the world created and used only by women. Nowout of use, this writing system has come back to life thanks to Jiang Qiong Er, with the assistance of AI, with a unique script embroidered into metal, emanating lifeand resilience, grace and spirituality.

The journey concludes in the rotunda on the fourth floor, which has been transformed into a modern cave, Introspection. Inside the dome is a scented partition made up of 5,000 bricks of Pu’er tea. Stones have been placed like amineral garden in the centre, capturing the creative energy of the cave. The dome becomes a space for meditation but also for creation in harmony with time with the passing of seasons through tea ceremonies, Chinese music and opera, poetry readings and gatherings... Everyone becomes the guardian of their own time.

The artist explains: “I designed Guardians of Time as a sensorial and spiritual experience which is both individual and collective. A bridge between the French and Chinese cultures, an open door onto each person’s imagination, and asuspended moment of poetry which portrays values I feel strongly about.”

For Yannick Lintz, President of the Guimet Museum: “Jiang Qiong Er’s work with the Guimet gives a unique dimension to Guimet x China 2024: through the scaleand diversity of work specifically created for the museum’s spaces, she makes the vibrant colours of China resonate through space and time, transporting the visitor,with tremendous creative generosity, to the colours and scents of China.”