Ernesto Neto brings woven architecture to Paris

Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto has transformed the Nef Nord of Paris’s Grand Palais into a vast, sensory installation titled Nosso Barco Tambor Terra. Suspended beneath the recently restored glass and iron canopy by Chatillon Architectes, the handwoven structure is crafted from bark, earth, spices, and fibers—inviting visitors into an immersive environment that is meant to be entered, touched, and heard.

Through looping crochet, braided cords, and hanging skins, the installation evokes a living organism, rooted in both ritual and movement. While its organic forms feel intuitive, they follow an inner rhythm—connecting body to earth, breath to sound, and presence to place.

A Structure That Breathes and Listens

Embedded within the installation are musical instruments—some hidden like bones in a body, others exposed and inviting interaction. On selected days, musicians animate the space with live performances that resemble ceremonies more than concerts. Drums from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America engage in dialogue, responding to one another and to the presence of visitors. The sound resonates from within the structure, pulsing like a heartbeat through the woven skin.

Around the central piece, the Grand Palais hosts a series of activations: conversations, workshops, live music, and a Brazilian café. These surrounding events extend Neto’s vision—fostering community, exchange, and shared attention.

A Soft Architecture for Collective Experience

Neto’s material language resists polish. Bark, raw fiber, suspended spice bundles—each element speaks of manual labor and ancestral knowledge passed through the body. The installation becomes a shared membrane, where traditions converge not to dissolve but to echo. His sense of scale is emotional as much as physical, and his architecture invites slowness, intimacy, and reflection.

The Grand Palais, reopened after years of restoration just in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics, offers a striking contrast: a monumental, restructured space now hosting something unmechanical and profoundly human.

Presented in collaboration with Lisbon’s MAAT and as part of the France–Brazil Season 2025, Nosso Barco Tambor Terra expands the definition of architecture—not as construction, but as an experience that moves, listens, and remembers. In the heart of Paris, Neto creates a vessel for dreaming, gathering, and grounding.