Fables du doute / Tales of Disbelief
Athanasios Argianas, Ulla von Brandenburg, Kit Craig, Christian Frosi, João Maria Gusmão + Pedro Paiva,
Nick Laessing, Goshka Macuga
Guest curator in residence: Simone Menegoi
24 May – 26 July 2008
Residency for foreign curators
Wishing to contribute to the opening-up the French art scene to professionals from abroad, La Galerie, a Contemporary Art Centre located in the suburbs of Paris, hosts each year a foreign curator in residence for a period of three months. First organised in 2006, the aim of the residency is to put on an exhibition at La Galerie within the context of a French art centre, and to meet artists and professionals working in the contemporary art field in France.
Selected via a call for exhibition projects, Simone Menegoi (born 1970 in Verona, lives between Verona and Milan, Italy) has been working in Noisy-le-Sec on a group exhibition entitled “Fables du doute / Tales of Disbelief” that is currently been held at La Galerie.
This exhibition explores the connections between science, art and irrational beliefs – spiritualism, magic, etc. – in the 19th and part of the 20th centuries. The artists confront this aspect of cultural history from a complex, ambiguous standpoint whose critical detachment does not exclude the appeal of the past and the mysterious. The works offer the viewer a dual relationship with their content: on the one hand they invite us to an awareness of the historical distance that separates us from certain beliefs and cultural attitudes; and on the other they demonstrate their enduring charm as a contemporary response to the need for the irrational.
La Galerie, Contemporary Art Centre
La Galerie is one of the forty six Contemporary Art Centres in France. It is publicly funded by the City of Noisy-le-Sec, the Seine-Saint-Denis departement, the DRAC Ile-de-France –Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Ile-de-France region.
Founded in 1999, La Galerie offers a programme based on the notion of art as a sensory experience and a reflection of our relation to the world through a conceptual approach. Four exhibitions a year (two monographic, two thematic) offer hitherto unseen works by internationally recognized artists together with those of emerging French artists.
The centre’s main activities are to produce art works, publish bilingual reference publications, host artists and curators in residence and develop educational activities in relation to the artistic programme.
2005 / 2008 programme:
• Group exhibitions: “Makings of the Sublime” (James Ireland, Friedrich Kunath, Christopher Orr, Evariste Richer); “Cosmogonies” (Isabelle Arthuis, Soyoung Chung, Julien Discrit, Attila Csörgö, Vidya Gastaldon, Jean-Michel Wicker); “Expeditions” (Dove Allouche, Simon Boudvin, Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, Joachim Koester, Abraham Poincheval & Laurent Tixador, Daniel Roth, Hans Schabus), “Night Visions” (Dominique Blais, Sophie Bueno-Boutellier, Jason Dodge, Spencer Finch, Francesco Gennari, Anne-Laure Sacriste, Niels Trannois).
• Guest curator’s exhibitions: “Object Apart” (Ryan Gander, Alexander Gutke, Maria M. Loboda, Kirsten Pieroth, Wilhelm Sasnal, Albrecht Schäfer, Florian Slotawa, Simon Starling – curator in residence: Bettina Klein), “A History of One’s Own” (Victor Alimpiev, Marie Andersson, Karlotta Blondäl, Aurélien Froment, Graham Gussin, Martin Karlsson, Guillaume Leblon – curator in résidence: Anna Johansson).
• Solo shows: Laurent Montaron, Olivier Nottellet, Myriam Mechita, Evariste Richer, Adam Adach.
Upcoming exhibitions:
• “Landscape’s matter” with Lara Almarcegui, Katinka Bock, Detanico/Lain… in the framework of the 9th Seine-Saint-Denis biennial of contemporary art, Art Grandeur Nature “Shared Urban Zones” (20 September – 23 November)
• Bertrand Lamarche solo show (6 December 2008 – 7 February 2009)
La Galerie is a member of:
tram, Paris/Île-de-France contemporary art network: www.tram-idf.fr
d.c.a, French association for the Development of Art Centres: www.dca-art.com
Application deadline for the next curator’s residency: January 2009
La Galerie, Contemporary Art Centre
1 rue Jean-Jaurès
F- 93130 Noisy-le-Sec
Tel: +33 1 49 42 67 17
