Cyprien Gaillard combines sculpture, architecture, video, photography, and sound art to create complex works. His themes revolve around youth culture, urban development, the perception of nature, and approaches to life in our time. He sees himself less as an author and more as an observer of existing structures—be they postwar modernist buildings or stereotypical patterns of behavior among young people.
In the summer of 2024, the Fondation Beyeler in Basel presented Gaillard’s film "Retinal Rivalry", 2024, which has also been on display at the Haus der Kunst in Munich since the fall of 2025. The film is a masterpiece: it combines stereoscopic 3D images with acoustic and visual stimuli of almost hallucinogenic intensity. The camera guides us through urban zones and scenic spaces—such as Saxon Switzerland or Munich’s Theresienwiese—places that are both culturally charged and symbolically determined. The mood remains gloomy and disturbing throughout.
For Bregenz, Gaillard deals with so-called "Deterrents"–measures designed to discourage people from engaging in certain behaviors. Such forms of repression and control are omnipresent in public spaces. All these strategies of deterrence erode and shrink public space. They manifest themselves in barriers, uncomfortable seating, or the targeted use of classical music at train stations or under bridges to avoid loitering. For Kunsthaus Bregenz, Cyprien Gaillard is developing a new film production alongside sculptural interventions that are tailored to the building and its architecture.
