The Institut d’art contemporain has invited Hans Schabus for his first large-scale solo exhibition in France. Born in 1970 in Watschig, Austria, Hans Schabus lives and works in Vienna. Solo exhibitions have been organised in particular in 2003 at the Secession exhibition in Vienna (Astronaut) and in 2007 at Site, Santa Fe, New Mexico (Deserted Conquest). Hans Schabus was particularly remarked for his monumental wooden structure encompassing the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 2005. In 2008, he designed ‘Demolirerpolka’, a wooden fence that covered the entire façade of the IAC for the exhibition Fabricateurs d’espaces. The exhibition at the Institute consists of existing and new works by the artist—installations, videos, sculptures and collages. Hans Schabus performs radical acts—digging, filling, encircling, cutting—to destructure and restructure space, changing our references and movements. His works generally refer to his immediate environment and the materials that form it. The artist’s studio appears as the matrix of his work, where his life and thinking are spatialised, the first place in which the relation between mental space and physical space is materialised. The Institut d’art contemporain gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Culture and Communication (DRAC Rhône-Alpes), the Rhône-Alpes region and the city of Villeurbanne and especially for the exhibition, the support of the Forum Culturel Autrichien. ALSO ON VIEW : Gianni Colombo, Spazio elastico, 1967 In the context of the Laboratory space brain / Station 5 -25 February – 24 April 2011 -Study day : Thursday 17th March 2011, 1.30 PM Initiated by the artist Ann Veronica Janssens and Nathalie Ergino, director of the Institut d’art contemporain, the Laboratory space brain uses experiments in art to explore theoretical and practical research linking space and the brain. This interdisciplinary laboratory will assemble the thoughts and experiences of artists, scientists (working in neuroscience, astrophysics, etc.), philosophers, anthropologists, art theoreticians and historians. For further information: www.i-ac.eu/laboratoireespacecerveau Press contact: Delphine Peyronnet: d.peyronnet@i-ac.eu