Spring 2023 exhibition programme

Waiting for Omar Gatlato: Epilogue
April 7–October 15
A group exhibition curated by Natasha Marie Llorens. Production Magasin CNAC, in partnership with the Cnap and Rhizome, Algiers.

Ufuoma Essi: Is My Living in Vain
April 7–October 1
Curated by Céline Kopp. Initiated and produced by Gasworks, London, coproduction Magasin CNAC and Te Uru Waitākere, Auckland.

Cindy Bannani: The 35 and the other 99,965
April 7–September 3
Curated by Céline Kopp with Alexia Pierre and Noémie Pirus-Hassid.

The Magasin, Centre national d’art contemporain (CNAC) in Grenoble, France, is pleased to announce a new season of programming as it continues to unveil its inaugural institutional project under the direction of Céline Kopp. From April 7 onwards, visitors are invited to discover three new exhibitions in over 2200 square meters of exhibition space.

In the main gallery, a major group exhibition entitled En Attendant Omar Gatlato: Épilogue [Waiting for Omar Gatlato: Epilogue] will present the work of fourteen artists for a survey of contemporary art from Algeria and its diaspora, with Louisa Babari, Fayçal Baghriche, Lounis Baouche, Hakima El Djoudi, Nawel Louerrad, Lydia Ourahmane, Sara Sadik, Nesrine Salem, Abdo Shanan, Hichem Merouche, Dania Reymond, Djamel Tatah, Tilawin Project, and Sofiane Zouggar. The long-anticipated epilogue of five years of research resonates with the trepidation of a missed encounter, a future side-stepped. Post-Hirak, post-Covid, when the effective impact of climate change is tangible, a tense suspension seems to permeate everyday life in Algeria and in its diasporas; a fitting tone for an epilogue in honor of Merzack Allouache’s 1976 cinematic masterpiece, Omar Gatlato.

For her first solo show in France, Ufuoma Essi (b. 1995, lives and works in Lewisham, southeast London) presents her most recent and ambitious film in an immersive installation. Is My Living in Vain is a meditation on the continuing history and emancipatory potential of the Black church as a space of belonging, affirmation and community organising. Combining shot footage, oral histories and archive material from both sides of the Atlantic, the film follows a tangled thread of personal and collective memories to interrogate the church’s contribution to a Black radical tradition. Essi’s 40-minute-long film is presented as part of an immersive installation inspired by the interiors of storefront churches in West Philadelphia. The film installation explores the parallels between the church and the cinema as sites of worship and shared communal experience.

In the experimental gallery, French artist Cindy Bannani presents her first institutional solo exhibition entitled Les 35 et les 99 965 autres [The 35 and the other 99, 965]. With this participatory project, developped in collaboration with local communities, the artist sheds light on the vivid local memory of the 1983 “March for Equality and Against Racism” during which protestors marched from Marseille to Paris via Grenoble in a pivotal moment in the history of anti-racist struggle in France.

Credits
En attendant Omar Gatlato : Epilogue is an exhibition organised in partnership with the Centre national des arts plastiques and Rhizome; the exhibition is supported by the Institut Français d’Algérie.

Is My Living in Vain is an exhibition initiated and produced by Gasworks, London, in coproduction with Magasin CNAC, Grenoble and Te Uru Waitākere, Auckland.

Les 35 et les 99 965 autres is an exhibition initiated and produced by Magasin CNAC in partnership with the Association de Solidarité des Algériens de l’Isère (ASALI), BEYTI, and the Maison Des Habitants Chorier Berriat.

This exhibition season is supported by the macLYON.

Private sponsors: Médiamax, La Tag.
Media partners: Libération.
Networks: D.C.A.—association française de développement des centres d’art, and AC//RA—Art contemporain en Auvergne—Rhône Alpes.
The Magasin CNAC is supported by the French Ministry of Culture—DRAC—Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the city of Grenoble, the Conseil régional Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and the Conseil départemental de l’Isère.

For international press enquiries, please contact: Nadia Fatnassi, Close Encounters, nadia@closeencounters.fr / T +33 652 086 908