Invited to exhibit at the Palais de Tokyo, the Mexican artist Héctor Zamora (born in 1974, lives in Portugal) has designed a performance-based installation, which powerfully evokes the deconstruction of the symbolic realm and the hope that navigation represents. 

"Boats symbolise adventure and discovery, but they also embody the hope of a safe haven or the ability to survive in a hostile environment. While conveying images borne from great mythological epics, nowadays, they are also symbolically linked to the migration crisis." Héctor Zamora

Assembled in the sculptural space of the Palais de Tokyo’s Orbe New York, whose large bay windows overlook the Seine, several wooden fishing boats are slowly dismantled, piece by piece, throughout the duration of the exhibition. The ever-evolving structure which emerges is underpinned by a fundamental question: can progress be born from order?

With Order and Progress, Héctor Zamora continues his exploration of socio-economic models and the «wreckage» of the history of industrialisation, in keeping with his previous projects, such as Atopic Delirium (2009) or Every Belgian is born with a brick in the stomach (2008).

«The title of this work, Order and Progress, comes from the motto that adorns the celestial sphere of the Brazilian flag, this itself being a more concise version of the expression used by the philosopher Auguste Comte in his Course in Positive Philosophy (1830), ‘Love as a principle and order as the basis; progress as the goal’. This title establishes a contrast between the action which unfolds throughout the duration of the exhibition - the structured and organised process of dismantling several boats - and the central idea of positivist thought. (...)

Here, the purpose of dismantling boats is not for the construction or development of new political, economic or social scenarios. Instead, it serves to dispel the promises borne from the fantasies they convey, whether it be within the specific context of France, of Europe, or within a wider cultural sphere.» Héctor Zamora

«The socio-political dimension, an essential aspect of Héctor Zamora’s method, is here combined with a strong graphic and architectural dimension: as soon as the boats are installed, the artist is somehow confronted with a loss of control. The systematic dismantling of these vessels does not enable him to predict how the space will be altered, how it will be perceived or used.» Vittoria Matterese