In a world consumed by flames — both environmental and sociopolitical — Embrasez-vous, the new exhibition by internationally renowned French artist Rero, offers a bold reflection on the paradoxes of human connection. Through a play on the pair of paronyms 'embrasser' (to embrace) and 'embraser' (to set ablaze), which is also deliberately phonetically close to 'bois de braise' (ember wood) from Brazil, he invites visitors to explore the duality of our relationships in the face of contemporary crises.

The exhibition brings together Rero’s most recent works, developed through his latest research and experimentation across multiple continents and diverse contexts. The pieces on display challenge our relationship with those around us — both near and far — and question the stance we should adopt in a world that is, quite literally, going up in flames. In response to these fires, Rero proposes love and empathy as the only true salutary weapons. Only love can stop time... Love, he suggests, drives us to rise above ourselves and face the challenges of our time — whether climate change or the growing number of conflicts destabilizing the world and impacting our mental well-being. While it would be easy to burn with rage or despair, the artist urges us instead to “catch fire” for and through love — not against one another.

The featured series evoke the warmth of love and solidarity while emphasizing the urgent need to act against climate change and armed conflict. Each piece asks whether we are still capable of embracing one another while confronting global challenges. From his iconic series of charred wood panels to new material explorations incorporating everyday objects (baseball bat, natural grass preserved in resin, barber pole, VW Beetle hood, etc.) Rero explores our relationship with the world, using the installation A light in the dark, created in collaboration with Dark Passengers Social Club, as a point of exegesis that urges us to reinterpret adversity and engage with a new form of spiritual resilience rooted in hope.

French artist Rero has established a strong international presence through his signature artistic identity: Verdana font, boldly crossed out with a thick black line. His work has been exhibited in prestigious institutions such as the Centre Pompidou — whose façade he famously took over in 2013 — the CentQuatre, the Grand Palais, MAC/VAL, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Bogotá, the ArtScience Museum in Singapore, and Caixa Cultural in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Brasília. In 2024, the EDF Foundation commissioned him to title its main exhibition, Tomorrow is cancelled. His works are part of major collections, including the Mohammed VI Collection, the EDF Foundation, and the Desperados Foundation.