Morocco
Rabat
2021
11
French
In a nutshell
This exhibition, Of Rage and Desire, The Beating Heart of Men, presents a unique photographic and literary confrontation exploring the state of humanity in the modern era. Conceived by international photographer Gérard Rancinan and French author Caroline Gaudriault, the project uses monumental imagery and reflective texts to critically examine the profound social contradictions and transformations that have defined life in the 20th and 21st centuries. The display features Rancinan’s striking, metaphor-rich photographs, which often reinterpret classic masterpieces, alongside Gaudriault’s powerful calligraphic installations. Organized into three immersive parts, the exhibition charts our complex relationship with Modernity and societal upheaval. Visitors leave having considered the full range of human feeling — our hopes, rages, desires, and responsibilities — within the continuous transformation of the global world.
Why should you watch this?
The film Of Rage and Desire, The Beating Heart of Men speaks directly to our fractured present by pairing Gérard Rancinan’s monumental, often operatic photographs with Caroline Gaudriault’s hand-written texts, forcing a conversation between image and language about power, longing, and social fracture. Moments such as a staged tableau that echoes a classical masterpiece and a nearby wall of looping calligraphy confront viewers with feeling and argument at once — beautiful, unsettling, and hard to look away from. The effect is both visceral and cerebral: it provokes anger, invites reflection, and asks a final responsibility of us all — to name what we want and what we must change.
Curators
Gérard Rancinan
Bio
Gérard Rancinan is an internationally renowned artist whose photographic works are featured in leading museums worldwide and significant contemporary art collections. A keen observer of his era, he has been honored with six World Press awards. His monumental and expressionistic photographs are powerful reflections on contemporary society, boldly revealing the intensity and subversive spirit of an experienced, insightful, and critical artist. Rancinan has also been named an Officier des Arts et des Lettres.
Caroline Gaudriault
Bio
Caroline Gaudriault is a celebrated French author with nearly a dozen literary works, essays translated into English or Chinese, and art books to her name. Her writing provides a profound perspective that underpins her artistic approach. She often engages with contemporary thinkers, sometimes involving them in her creative process. For several years, Gaudriault has created striking calligraphic suspensions and text kakemonos for museum exhibitions, giving tangible form to her writing. She is also the author and screenwriter of several medium-length fiction films.
Artists
Gérard Rancinan
Bio
Gérard Rancinan is an internationally renowned artist whose photographic works are featured in leading museums worldwide and significant contemporary art collections. A keen observer of his era, he has been honored with six World Press awards. His monumental and expressionistic photographs are powerful reflections on contemporary society, boldly revealing the intensity and subversive spirit of an experienced, insightful, and critical artist. Rancinan has also been named an Officier des Arts et des Lettres.
Caroline Gaudriault
Bio
Caroline Gaudriault is a celebrated French author with nearly a dozen literary works, essays translated into English or Chinese, and art books to her name. Her writing provides a profound perspective that underpins her artistic approach. She often engages with contemporary thinkers, sometimes involving them in her creative process. For several years, Gaudriault has created striking calligraphic suspensions and text kakemonos for museum exhibitions, giving tangible form to her writing. She is also the author and screenwriter of several medium-length fiction films.
