This exhibition is one of the events marking the Bicentenary of Photography. It explores photography as a hybrid medium in which science, the arts, and technology all have their part. The exhibition traces the evolution of photography, from the Lumière autochromes to algorithmic images, in a display that combines contemporary art, historical works and archive material.

The five chapters of the exhibition chart the history of photography: the experiments with photochemical processes that resulted in the first images; the fertile relationship between photography and other artistic disciplines; the mechanisation that enabled mass production; the quest for meaningfulness in a society saturated with images; and the representation of time and space in a fascinating dialogue between photography and cinema. This organisation of the material is designed to emphasise the constantly evolving nature of photography, a medium that engages with painting, sculpture, cinema, publishing, installation art and graphic design.

Nearly sixty artists are featured, Photographic Alchemies explores our relationship with images and new forms of the visible. The exhibition covers an area of nearly 2,000 m2 with compelling juxtapositions of images from public collections in the Lyon region, as well as works by specially invited French and international artists.

Curator: Matthieu Lelièvre, Head of Collection at macLYON

With: Blaise Adilon, Fabienne Ballandras, Delphine Balley, Guénaëlle de Carbonnières, Jasmina Cibic, Gregory Crewdson, Erik Dietman, Nicolas Floc’h, Claude Gassian, Jochen Gerz, Gilbert & George, Anna Halprin, Michel Journiac, Karim Kal, Joseph Kosuth, Jean Le Gac, Gabriel Leger, Boris Mikhaïlov, Kristina Õllek, Pétrel | Roumagnac (duo), Éric Poitevin, Marilou Poncin, Thomas Ruff, Ed Ruscha, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Dune Varela, Laure Winants…

Artist Baptiste Caccia has been given carte blanche to create a display in the foyer of the museum and in the macBAR.