A proposal by Martin Kiefer, curator of the exhibition.

 

 

“AWAKENING – that of nature and bodies: this is what this exhibition focuses on, acting thus like an ode to beauty in all its manifold forms. Through their work, twenty artists coming from diverse backgrounds and different generations all underline our capability of withstanding the major crises we are living through. Furthermore, they advocate for the necessity to respond to adversity with an ever so sharpened sense of creativity, imagination, as well as optimism, which have proven to be more necessary than ever. Forcefully isolated in the past years, we have been lead to undergo a personal intimate journey; a reflective yet also oppressive one, compelling us to find new forms of freedom, beauty and eroticism. This turning point may feel no less like some genuine kind of spring. Within this quest for renewal we all strive for, AWAKENING means to propose a panoramic view on this spring. Most of the featured works were created specifically for this group show. Starting from their point of unison, they point to four distinct directions I cared to highlight.

Some artists celebrate the beauty of flora and fauna, the splendor of colors and vegetation reclaiming mineral ground, essentially showing the “rebirth of nature”.

Others manifest their activist vein with what could be called “neologisms of the nature”, inventing new forms of life that artistically contribute to enrich our planet’s biodiversity.

A monumental artwork by Rayyane Tabet (shown in the Rue du Mail space) reminds us that in the age of war, as well as environmental and energy crises, a profoundly “endangered nature” remains at the heart of the artists’ concerns and preoccupations.

In such moments of societal hiatuses and anxiety, we tend to find back to ourselves and center our attention on our bodies. These may awaken in an act of our bonding with the intimate–a “awakening of the body”, unveiling new horizons and pleasure we would not have been able to imagine before.

The exhibition AWAKENING endeavors to gather these feelings and affects under the prism of the shown artworks, as well as to serve as a guide to live in a better world. I do think that the concept of awakening is no less than a prosperous path to think about the present and the possibility of rebirth through artistic creation.”

Artists : Sergey Bratkov (Ukrainian), Cadu (Brazil), Laurent Champoussin (France), Miguel Chevalier (France and Mexico), Robert Combas (France), Thomas Fougeirol (France), Franz Gertsch (Switzerland), Mireille Gros (Switzerland), François Halard (France), Eva Jospin (France), Roni Landa (Israel), Sergey Melnitchenko (Ukrainian), Ursula Palla (Switzerland), Richard Peduzzi (France), Antoinette Poisson (France), Arne Quinze (Belgium), Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger (Switzerland), Rayyane Tabet (Lebanon), Eloise van der Heyden (France & USA), Agnes Waruguru (Kenya), Nives Widauer (Switzerland).


A catalog has been published for this exhibition.
Authors: Quentin Emery, Matilde Guidelli Guidi, Vincent Huguet and Martin Kiefer

Press kit here
Exhibition catalog here


Sergey Melnitchenko, Young and Free, 2020