Curated by Victoria Sung with Gwyneth Shanks

The great seduction of Laure Prouvost’s work is rooted in the slippage of language, amid the perils and joys of communication and misunderstanding. Her lush and bewildering films distort conventional narrative to such a degree that they can be hard to follow, but the intensity of her voice-overs and the wit of her directives compel us to keep trying. Take the fictional story of the French artist’s grandfather––an overlooked Conceptual artist and close friend of Kurt Schwitters’s––that has proved to be a golden thread from which she has spun a number of engrossing films and installations, including the Turner Prize–winning Wantee, 2013. Yet though Prouvost has shown extensively in Europe, American audiences have had far fewer occasions to see her work. Details about the film installation and performance piece to debut at the Walker are scant, but that is part of the artist’s charm: She almost always leaves us guessing and restless for more.

— Rachel Churner