Ali Cherri, Cao Fei, Cui Jie, LaToya Ruby Frazier, François-Xavier Gbré, Pauline Ghersi, Cecilia Granara, Tirdad Hashemi, Rayane Mcirdi, Marilou Poncin, Romane de Watteville, Chloe Wise

À fleur de peau

17 Jun — 17 Sep 2022

Through the eyes of twelve artists, the exhibition ‘À fleur de peau’ highlights the relationship between the city and its inhabitants. More specifically, it observes how architecture and town planning can modify and influence our behaviour, our body and our psyche. ‘À fleur de peau’ is not seeking to be either exhaustive or impartial and attempts to present a passionate and poetic panorama of a range of different artistic approaches.

Cities evolve, expand and sometimes fade away. Their inhabitants are directly impacted and experience these effects on a daily basis. These impacts vary considerably depending on each person’s social background and financial resources.

‘Gentrification’, one of the best known processes of urban modification, has been extensively reflected in recent times in literature, sociology and town planning itself. This term, originating in English, describes the transformation of working class areas brought about by the arrival of better-off social classes who renovate the houses and bring in different ways of life and of consumption. The poorest and most vulnerable are ejected fairly unceremoniously by the way the developers operate or quite simply by the rise in prices. The original inhabitants of these areas are deeply affected by having to live in a state of uncertainty, aware that their eventual departure is inevitable, and often existing in slum conditions. The artists Cao Fei (China, 1978) and François-Xavier Gbré (France, 1978) respectively tackle this subject from the perspective of the absurd in a Chinese megapolis and the way the dismantling of a poor neighbourhood in Abidjan is archived. Rayane Mcirdi (France, 1993) collects life stories and... [lire plus]

With thanks to the artists represented, and to lenders and sponsors including the Regional Contemporary Art Fund of Alsace, Mr Alexandar Dacić, the galleries of Ciaccia Levi, Exo Exo, Cécile Fakhoury, Imanes Farès, gb agency and Almine Rech