2026
SIDE QUEST
Solo exhibition by Elouan Le Bars at the Ygrec Art Centre
Curator: Guillaume Breton
February 6 to April 11, 2026
Secondary missions, side quests, games are riddled with them: players can indulge in the leisurely collection of shimmering stars or opt for the systematic smashing of sturdy crates. In the world of video games, this term refers to all the secondary missions which, while they do not directly advance the game’s progress, nevertheless allow for more thorough exploration. By extension, it has come to describe those suspended moments in real-life that are lived like a video game. Life would then be organized by distinguishing two orders of magnitude. First, there would be the main quest, which is imposing and compelling, the pursuit of which requires everyone to be highly performative and competitive at all times. And then there are a multitude of other more fluid moments, which are more conducive to wandering, to drifting, or, more prosaically, to recovering one’s labor power. The porosity between the video game industry and the labor market is at the heart of Elouan Le Bars’ exhibition “Side Quest”.
