Le Royaume et l’Exil — Premier volet : L’urbanité des mediums — Backslash Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: October 20 → November 12, 2011

For the first time ever, Backslash gallery is proud to invite two exhibition curators to the gallery. The guest curators will successively be taking a personal approach to developing two intertwining themes, nature and the urban space.

Christophe Le Gac and Gaël Charbau will each be creating a show that draws on an assumed opposition between city and country and uses the theme of roaming to bring both elements together. The two shows will share the title Le Royaume et l’Exil [Kingdom and Exile]. The title pays homage to Albert Camus’ collection of short stories, where the art of description, overlaying the characters’ psychological troubles, allows the reader to roam between urban and “natural” landscapes.

Christophe Le Gac has created the first display, entitled L’urbanité des médiums [The Urbanity of Mediums]. It evokes the notion of the kingdom in order to contest the idea of urban planning, especially the version posited by the Athens Charter in 1933. It also seeks to counter the notion of the autonomy of artistic disciplines and the cruel lack of any desire to “be together”.

The works by the different featured artists conjure up “The Kingdom”, the name of the hospital where Lars Von Trier’s TV series of the same name was filmed. The functional and inflexible character of such a place is shattered by human, or sometimes even paranormal, subjectivities.

Christophe Le Gac is a rebel of the art world. Architect, publisher, critic and teacher, he likes to explore every dimension that links him to contemporary visual art.