To understand the exhibitions, one must first understand the artist’s peculiar trajectory. Born in Chicoutimi, Quebec, in 1975, Benjamin Beaulieu was a prodigy of the École des arts visuels et médiatiques . By 1999, he had gained a minor reputation for "taxidermy chronométrique"—the practice of embedding antique pocket watches into found animal forms.
— The art world of the early aughts was obsessed with the digital y2k transition, glossy photorealism, and the nihilism of post-postmodernism. Yet, tucked away in a former glove factory in the 11th arrondissement, a quiet Canadian ex-pat named Benjamin Beaulieu staged what might be the most unsettling—and most forgotten—show of the year: Étranges Exhibitions . etranges exhibitions 2002 benjamin beaulieu