Fabriques. The young artist presents some recent photographic and video works, as well as installations. The photographic image and the video are characterized by their link to the real. Usually documentary, they are tied to the very existence of objects, from which they give a direct and immediate print. Curated by Denis Pernet.
Curator : Denis Pernet
ADRIEN MISSIKA, « Fabriques » 06.03 – 03.05.2009 The Centre d'Art
Contemporain Genève is proud to present the first monographic exhibition
of ADRIEN MISSIKA within an institution. This young artist will show some
recent photographic and video works, as well as installations. The
photographic image and the video are characterized by their link to the
real. Usually documentary, they are tied to the very existence of objects,
from which they give a direct and immediate print. ADRIEN MISSIKA, while
playing with the viewers' expectations and biases, questions in a subtle
way our relation to the world and its representation. He addresses both
media and popular imageries, while paying a particular attention to the
history of photography and the contemporary use of this media. Drawing
from the registers of artificial scenery, comic books, science-fiction
movies and postcards, ADRIEN MISSIKA is a great amateur of architecture
and archaeology. His work deploys itself as a permanent investigation of
in-between spaces, between fiction and reality. He retrieves pictures from
his travels and mixes them with the ones he realizes in the studio, out of
models made of basic materials and with the use of simple lighting. From
his interest for movie scenery, ADRIEN MISSIKA draws lighting and trickery
techniques. He uses the process of picture making in order to propose to
the viewer dream-like narrative.
In the studio, he photographs a
polystyrene asteroid which seems to come out a 50s movie, or a sunset on a
plastic sea reminiscent of Federico Fellini movie tricks. From the
modernist architectural utopias to the conquest of space, from the myths
built by the first studios to science-fiction comic books, our
prefabricated dream is here ironically replayed.
This exhibition puts
together for the first time an important group of works by this young
prolific artist. At the Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève, different
thematic series confront and create each time a new significance. ADRIEN
MISSIKA has invited the designer Stephane Barbier Bouvet to
conceive the exhibition furniture. Made out of stone blocs (marble and
granite), the functional elements recall the architectures presented in
the photographs. The work of Stephane Barbier Bouvet has been
distinguished at the International Fashion and Photography Festival of
Hyères, following a mandate to crate street furniture in the town.
ADRIEN MISSKA lives and works in Geneva after having graduated, in 2007,
from the photography department of the cal. His work has been
exhibited in group shows at the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris, at Metro
Square in Tokyo, at the CosmoCaixa in Barcelona and the Fette's Gallery in
Los Angeles, as well as in Lausanne and Geneva, in particular at the
Blancpain Gallery. He is one of the co-founders (2006), and
co-programmers, of the 1m3 gallery in Lausanne.
Image: Le temple de la philosophie moderne, 2008
Marie-Avril Berthet (Responsable Presse et Communication)
ma.berthet@centre.ch ou presse@centre.ch T +41 22 3291842 F +41 22 3291886
Public opening 5th March 6 - 9 PM
Center for Contemporary Art
Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers 10 - Genev
Opening hours: Tue - Sun 11AM - 6PM