“Before we had language and written stories we had images. There were ways of holding and communicating knowledge that did not require words; ways that had to do with the body and movement, like the form of a dance or a facial expression, or produced through drawing and images such as cave paintings. There is a language of the imagination and a life of the mind that predates logical reasoning and the urge to categorise. They are modes of thought deeply embedded in human culture and psychology.
Encountering the works of Caroline Achaintre is like taking a field trip to this different life of the mind. Her creations are full of idiosyncratic personalities and psychological resonances. They are at the same time majestic and absurd, transgressive and homely. Like artefacts of a lost civilisation or creatures that have wandered from the pages of an otherworldly bestiary, they challenge and play with our perceptions and emotions. They return our gaze, they get under our skin, they make us laugh, they hide secrets, they resist interpretation, and pose questions that do not have answers.”
Excerpt from the press release, Brian Cass
Nina Childress, Peintre et sculpteur, 2015. Huile sur toile, encadré / Oil on canvas, framed. 73 × 92 cm (28 ¾ × 36 ¼ inches)Richard Fauguet, Formical blues part II, 2020. Assise de chaise en formica, encre sur bois / Formica chair seat, ink on wood, 32 × 37 × 4,2 cm (12 ⅝ × 14 ⅝ × 1 ⅝ inches)
MIAM-Hervé Di Rosa continues its work of exploring art territories that are too often ignored. Who are these painters who had a moment of popular glory before falling into oblivion, these artists of undeniable success, yet relegated to the shadows of history?
BEAUBADUGLY – The Other History of Painting will present the original paintings of these artists on the margins of the common imagination and taste, who sometimes sold thousands of reproductions of their works in supermarkets, and whose posters are familiar to us all.
On the first floor of the museum, Colette Barbier and Nina Childress – associate curators for this part of the exhibition – will offer us conceptual, ironic, playful, admiring and offbeat responses from contemporary artists of different generations and origins.
Le Parvis, which in 50 years has programmed over 300 exhibitions, will be blowing out its candles with a feed-back and forward-looking exhibition entitled Future is now, inviting some 50 artists who exhibited between 1974 and 2024 to return to the site.
Le Parvis is one of the first contemporary art institutions in France, and also one of the most atypical. And it has to be said that the past 5 decades have not diminished the enthusiasm of artists and audiences alike for this intriguing venue, located in a shopping mall and integrated into a national arts scene.
With: Martine Aballéa – Saâdane Afif – Atelier Van Lieshout – Nils Alix-Tabeling – John M. Armleder – Virginie Barré – Berdaguer & Péjus – Michel Blazy – Bianca Bondi – Céleste Boursier-Mougenot – Xavier Boussiron – Ulla von Brandenburg – Nina Childress – Claude Closky – Delphine Coindet – Caroline Corbasson – Alain Declercq – Damien Deroubaix – Erik Dietman – Mounir Fatmi – Daniel Firman – Dora Garcia – Marco Godinho – Laurent Grasso – Josep Grau-Garriga – Joël Hubaut – Fabrice Hyber – Pierre Joseph – Kapawani Kiwanga – Arnaud Labelle-Rojoux – Bertrand Lavier – Ange Leccia – Jacques Lizène – Philippe Mayaux – Caroline Mesquita – Tania Mouraud – Philippe Quesne – Philippe Ramette – Lionel Sabatté – Bruno Schmeltz – Franck Scurti – Alain Séchas – Djamel Tatah – Barthélémy Toguo – Niek Van de Steeg – Xavier Veilhan – Jean-Luc Verna – Jacques Vieille – Gisèle Vienne – Jérôme Zonder
Ulla von Brandenburg, Zelt, 2024. Verschiedene Textilien, Seil, Holzbänke, variable Maße. Installationsansicht „Wir legten Hände in das Wasser“, Altes Kurhaus Bad Kösen, Naumburg, 2024. Foto: Stark Shakupa / Ulla von Brandenburg, Zelt, 2024. Fabrics, rope, wooden benches, variable dimensions. Installation view „Wir legten Hände in das Wasser“, Altes Kurhaus Bad Kösen, Naumburg, 2024. Photo: Stark Shakupa
We put our hands in the water is the debut dieDAS art initiative. The exhibition is a cooperative project realized by the academy, curator Daniel Marzona, and the city of Naumburg, and intends to promote and spread the cultural and social values of the academy beyond Saaleck.
We put our hands in the water features work by artists Ulla von Brandenburg and Olaf Holzapfel.
Ulla von Brandenburg’s large-format fabric panels will transform the rooms into vibrant, stage-like settings reminiscent of dreamlike worlds. The artist describes her works as “spatial stagings” that bring together folklore, songs, theater, dance, and architecture to explore both the individual as well as the dynamics and functioning of community and society between chaos and regularity. In this way, von Brandenburg’s pieces formally examine aspects of the theatrical within the visual arts and conjure up delicate moments between utopia and reality, leaving the gap open for new perspectives and the previously unthought-of.
Kate Newby, anything, anything, 2024. Clay (“Lumière”), glas, 2 lines, each 500cm x 25 cm. Produced with the support of Rairies Montrieux, France. Exhibition view anything, anything, Klosterruine Berlin 2024, Photo: Robert Hamacher
Kate Newby’s exhibition “anything, anything” addresses the Klosterruine Berlin as a place of permanent change, drawing on the processual and allowing the outside world to become a part of it. Through subtle and expansive interventions into existing structures, the artist draws attention to often overlooked details in everyday life. In doing so, she gives preference to direct experience and establishes a relationship with the built space and its lived environment.