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Media Contacts:
EXPO CHICAGO Press Agency:
Carly Leviton/Mia DiMeo, Carol Fox and Associates
773.327.3830 x104
[email protected]/
[email protected]
National Press Representative:
Dan Tanzilli, Third Eye
646.593.8713/[email protected]
International Press Representative:
David Ulrichs, David Ulrichs PR
+4917650330135/[email protected]
For Immediate Release:
April 6, 2015
EXPO CHICAGO ANNOUCES PROGRAMMING FOR
FRENCH-AMERICAN CURATORIAL EXCHANGE
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CULTURAL SERVICES OF THE FRENCH
EMBASSY IN THE UNITED STATES AND INSTITUT FRANÇAIS
Curator Guillaume Désanges Collaborates with Rebuild Foundation, a Nonprofit
Organization Founded by Theaster Gates, on the French Pavilion, An Innovative
Residency Program in Conjunction with EXPO CHICAGO
Curator Matthieu Poirier leads /Dialogues Panel at EXPO CHICAGO Featuring
Daniel Buren, Felice Varini and Nicolas Cattelain
CHICAGO— EXPO CHICAGO, The International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern
Art, is pleased to announce programming that has developed from a yearlong curatorial
exchange between France and the United States in partnership with the Cultural
Services of the French Embassy in the United States and the Institut français. In
2014, Chicago-based curators Naomi Beckwith (Museum of Contemporary Art
Chicago) and Megha Ralapati (Hyde Park Art Center) traveled to France, and French
curators Guillaume Désanges (independent curator and art critic) and Matthieu
Poirier (independent art historian, critic and curator) traveled to Chicago for initial
exploratory research trips organized by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy
with the Institut français and EXPO CHICAGO. These cultural exchanges led to the
formation of special projects including a residency embedded in Chicago’s South Side
and a focused panel discussion on the architectural extension of abstract art since the
1960s, coinciding with EXPO CHICAGO, September 17–20, 2015.
“EXPO CHICAGO is proud to announce the resulting programs formed by the FrenchAmerican Curatorial Exchange, as well as strong ancillary events that will highlight
French artists and curators in Chicago during EXPO ART WEEK in 2015,” said EXPO
CHICAGO President | Director Tony Karman. “The remarkable projects that have
developed from the exchange, including the community activation produced in
collaboration with the Rebuild Foundation and Hyde Park Art Center, will reverberate
through Chicago long after September’s exposition, and will pave the way for future
international programming.”
Rebuild Foundation: French Pavilion
Working with Rebuild Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by artist Theaster
Gates in 2010, Guillaume Désanges conceived the idea of the French Pavilion, a
collaborative project supported by Rebuild and the Cultural Services of the French
Embassy and the Institut français, in the vibrant context of Chicago’s South Side. The
aim of the Pavilion is to create an innovative platform based at Rebuild for shortterm residencies of artists, curators, historians, cultural planners, critics, architects
and others. The Pavilion will be dedicated to emerging, challenging and
speculative programming that benefits those invited to participate in the residency
program, and is intended to inspire, support and integrate the communities in which
it is located. Aiming to go beyond the international standards of contemporary art, the
Pavilion seeks to participate in a growing movement among contemporary artists living
across Chicago’s South Side, who themselves are supported by a rich and dynamic
network of institutions. Désanges will be in residence at Rebuild April 1–20.
/Dialogues Panel: “Leaving the Canvas: Abstract Art and Architecture”
Returning as a core program of EXPO CHICAGO, /Dialogues—panel discussions
presented in partnership with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago—will feature a
keynote panel on the state of abstract art conceived and moderated by curator
Matthieu Poirier as part of the French-American Curatorial Exchange. In anticipation of
the first Chicago Architecture Biennial, this conversation will feature Daniel Buren
and Felice Varini, whose works both straddle boundaries of radical abstraction by
spreading the latter into the real time and space experience of architectural sites. They
will be joined by Nicolas Cattelain, whose personal collection focuses on art since the
1960s, and includes works that initiated this "environmental" logic by expanding
abstract art to the architectural dimension, by artists of the seminal Perceptual, Kinetic
and Optical art trends: ZERO, GRAV or Light & Space.
“The French curators were impressed by the vitality of the art scene in Chicago,” said
the Consulate General of France of Chicago’s Cultural Attaché Fabrice Rozié. “They
felt that the French partners should be closely involved with the transformation of
Chicago as a vibrant global city, particularly with the hope of collaborating with EXPO
CHICAGO, the Rebuild Foundation and the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Their
projects, therefore, aim to establish a French presence, through artists and collectors,
galleries and museums, within this transforming landscape.”
Hyde Park Art Center
Representing Chicago in Paris, Hyde Park Art Center Residency and Special Projects
Manager Megha Ralapati has selected Paris-based curator Muriel Enjalran to
participate as part of the Jackman Goldwasser Residency, a platform for five artists
and curators each year to take creative risks within their practice and expand their
professional networks while living and working in Chicago. Enjalran's curatorial
residency will consist of two research visits, one April 21–29 and a second during EXPO
CHICAGO, and will continue the mission of the curatorial exchange. During these
visits, Enjalran will expand her current work on artists’ changing relationship to public
space as well as participate in a series of studio visits with Chicago artists, supported
by the Institut français. Since 2006, Enjalran has worked as Project Manager at the
d.c.a, the French association for the development of centres d’art, where she has
helped to coordinate a structure of 50 art spaces across France, and enable
connections between them and other European institutions. She was an Associate
Curator for the first edition of the Biennale de Belleville, Paris, in 2011 and for the 3rd
Arts in Marrakech International Biennale in 2009.
Related EXPO ART WEEK Programming
The Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (MoCP)
will present an exhibition by French artist Philippe Chancel, organized by Europebased independent curator Marc Prüst in collaboration with MoCP’s Executive Director
Natasha Egan. The exhibition, “North Korean Perspectives,” on view July 23–October
4, explores perceptions of North Korea through photographic practice. As part of EXPO
ART WEEK, the MoCP will host a panel discussion featuring Chancel in conversation
with Prüst on Tuesday, September 15. The panel will consider contemporary visual
representations of North Korea by focusing on Chancel’s work—one of few artists
allowed access to photograph this isolated nation—and Prüst’s impetus behind the
MoCP’s exhibition. This program is presented in partnership with the Chicago Council
on Global Affairs, the Consulate General of France in Chicago and EXPO CHICAGO.
The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago will
present “Agnès Varda: Photographs Get Moving (potatoes and shells, too),” September
11–November 8. Curated by Lecturer and Director of M.A. Studies in the Department of
Cinema and Media Studies Dominique Bluher, the exhibition will showcase the films
and photographic installations of French feminist and avant-garde filmmaker Agnès
Varda. This exhibition is produced in partnership with UniFrance and France Chicago
Center. More details will be announced at a later date.
About the Curators
Guillaume Désanges is an independent curator and art critic. He is the Founder of
Work Method, a Paris-based agency for curatorial projects. Désanges coordinated the
artistic projects of Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers from 2001–2007. Recent projects
include: Concrete Erudition (2009-2011, Le Plateau-Frac Ile-de France, Paris); Wander
(2011, Centre Pompidou Metz); Amazing ! Clever! Linguistic! An Adventure in
Conceptual Art (2013, Generali Foundation, Vienna); A Universal Exhibition,
documentary section (Louvain-la-Neuve biennale, Belgium, 2013), Curated session: the
Dora Garcia files (Perez Art Museum, Miami, 2014). Désanges is currently the curator at
La Verrière (Fondation Hermès, Brussels), where he is organizing a series of exhibitions
entitled Gesture of the Mind.
Matthieu Poirier is an art historian, critic and curator based in Paris. Born in 1976, he
received his PhD from the Université Paris-Sorbonne for his research in Kinetic, Optical
and Perceptual Art trends. Currently granted by ProHelvetia for a research on Post-War
Abstract Art in Switzerland, he was a Research Fellow at the Institut National d'Histoire
de l'Art and at the Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte. He taught at the Université
Paris-Sorbonne, at the École Régionale des Beaux-Arts in Rouen and at the École
Européenne Supérieure de l’Image in Angoulême. Recently, he was the curator or the
co-curator of the following exhibitions: “Dynamo. A Century of Light and Movement.
1913–2013” (Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 2013), “Julio Le Parc. Soleil Froid”
(Palais de Tokyo, 2013), “Soto. Chronochrome” (Galerie Perrotin, Paris and New York,
2015), “Post-Op. Perceptual Gone Painterly. 1958–2014” (Galerie Perrotin, Paris,
2014), “Spectres. Abstraçao e Fantasmas” (Roesler Hotel, Sao Paulo, 2014). His
writings were published in many books or exhibition catalogs, including “Bewegung /
Mouvement” (Deutscher Kunstverlag), “Nachbilder” (Diaphanes Verlag,
Munich), “Summer of Love. Psychedelic Art, Social Crisis and Counterculture in
1960s” (Liverpool University Press/Tate Liverpool), “L'Art Moderne et
Contemporain” (Flammarion, Paris), “François Morellet. Installations” (Musée national
d’art moderne), “Immersion” (Musée de Valence), “Chefs-d'Oeuvre?” (Centre
Pompidou-Metz), “L'Oeil-moteur” (Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Strasbourg)
or “Los Cineticos” (Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid). He also contributed for many years to
the magazine Der Spiegel and the daily Le Quotidien de l’Art.
Naomi Beckwith is the Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator at the Museum of
Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago. Since she joined the MCA in 2011, she has
organized the highly acclaimed exhibitions: Keren Cytter (2015), MCA Plaza Project:
Yinka Shonibare, MBE (2014), MCA Screen: Leslie Hewitt in collaboration with Bradford
Young (2014), William J. O’Brien (2013), Homebodies (2013), Jimmy Robert Vis-à-vis
(2012), and Color Bind: The MCA Collection in Black and White (2012). Beckwith’s
upcoming projects include the group exhibition The Freedom Principle: Experiments in
Art and Music, 1965 to Now. Prior to the MCA, Beckwith was Associate Curator at The
Studio Museum in Harlem and held multiple fellowships, including at the Whitney
Museum of American Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia.
Megha Ralapati manages the Jackman Goldwasser Residency at Hyde Park Art
Center, an initiative that brings international and regional artists to Chicago to deepen
engagement between local and global art practice. Since 2012, Megha has organized
residencies with Deniz Gül (Istanbul), Minouk Lim (Seoul), Einat Amir (Tel Aviv), Jen
Delos Reyes (Portland), Paul Mpagi Sepuya (Los Angeles) and Sanjeev Shankar (New
Delhi), among others. Upcoming residencies include Jelena Jurea (Belgium & Serbia)
and Vagabond Reviews (Dublin). Megha has developed independent projects, including
“A Perfect Human” at Dorsch Gallery in Miami (2009), “Double-Jointed” at
Scaramouche gallery in New York (2012), and contributed to “New Narratives:
Contemporary Art from India” at the Chicago Cultural Center (2007). She is a
contributing editor at ArtAsiaPacific and recent writing has been included in
publications, Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic (2015 Brooklyn Museum), Black Sun (2014
Devi Art Foundation) and Manual for Treason (2011 Sharjah Art Foundation).
About The Cultural Services of the French Embassy
The Cultural Services of the French Embassy provides a platform for exchange and
innovation between French and American artists, intellectuals, educators, students, the
tech community, and the general public. Based in New York City, Washington D.C., and
eight other cities across the US, the Cultural Services develops the cultural economy by
focusing on six principal fields of action: visual and performing arts, literature, cinema,
the digital sphere, French language and higher education. www.frenchculture.org
About Institut français
The Institut français is the agency of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs for cultural
action outside of France. As an agent of cultural diplomacy, the Institut français is a
unique brand throughout 96 countries and in France. It ensures the promotion of artists,
architects, ideas, works and industries that together present an innovative and dynamic
image of creation in France. The Institut français contributes to the dialogue between
cultures and enlivens professional communities in each sector of its activity, all the
while participating in France’s cultural networks abroad. www.institutfrancais.com
About EXPO CHICAGO
EXPO CHICAGO/2015, The International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art,
is presented by Art Expositions, LLC. Now in its fourth year as a leading international art
fair, EXPO CHICAGO (Sept. 17 – 20, 2015) is a four-day art event featuring more than
140 leading international galleries and offering diverse programming including
/Dialogues, IN/SITU and EXPO VIDEO. Under the leadership of President and Director
Tony Karman, EXPO CHICAGO draws upon the city’s rich history as a vibrant
international cultural destination, while highlighting the region’s contemporary arts
community and inspiring its collector base. Vernissage, the opening night preview
benefiting the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, takes place Thursday, Sept 17, 6
– 9 p.m. General Admission to the exposition is Friday, Sept. 18 – Sunday, Sept. 20 (for
hours please visit expochicago.com). Tickets to the exposition are $20 for one day, $30
for three days. For more information about EXPO CHICAGO and EXPO ART WEEK
(Monday Sept. 14 – Sunday Sept. 20), visit expochicago.com.
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