Homes & Graves & Gardens Cyprien Gaillard curator Chiara Parisi

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1 Press release / Centre international d art et du paysage de l île de Vassivière Homes & Graves & Gardens Cyprien Gaillard curator Chiara Parisi opening July at 6pm Sound system starting at midnight open to the public from July 15 to October The Centre international d art et du paysage de l île de Vassivière presents Homes & Graves & Gardens, the first exhibition at an Art Center by the young French artist Cyprien Gaillard. The exhibition borrows a chapter title from Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory (1983), a book by Lucy R. Lippard on the subject of Land Art, an art movement born at the end of the 1960 s which uses nature as both a source of inspiration and as a framework for creation. In this essay the author establishes parallels between prehistoric art and Land Art. Cyprien Gaillard applies this concept to the site of Vassivière, calling into question its very nature. A former hill which became an island after the creation of a man-made lake which also led to the submersion of eight surrounding villages, the site is natural only in appearance. Like an urban park, it is the result of man s intervention in the landscape; but contrary to a park, its apparent natural harmony was not conceived as such and was achieved with a certain violence. First houses, then tombs, and now gardens: Cyprien Gaillard took inspiration from the site for the title of the exhibition, and even its content, as a reaction to this violence. Seen from the air, the site can also evoke certain sculptures of the 1970 s, more precisely certain projects by Robert Smithson, a major historical figure in the Land Art movement. The exhibition relies on the necessary and reciprocal relation which is established between the work and space which contains it, a relation which the viewer is summoned to perceive by experiencing the architecture of the Center and the surrounding island in a new way. Conceived as a sum of analogies made between different sites from the housing projects of the Parisian suburbs to Mayan cities, from the lake of Vassivière to the lakes of Yosemite, from the cemeteries of Glasgow to French parks of ruins Homes & Graves & Gardens seeks to implicate viewers in a dimension which is as physical as it is mental. The artist s aim to is to give the island a new dynamic from the word dynamite, derived from the Greek dynamikos = force by offering viewers the possibility of experiencing a day and night of experimentation on an island which has become experimental, where all the aspects of the exhibition will be apprehended according to variable durations and modes. Homes & Graves & Gardens establishes a continuity between the history of the landscape and that of the island of Vassivière; the villages which were flooded after the building of the dam at the end of the 1940 s, which have become underwater tombs; and the garden created on the island, which was mutilated by the storm at the end of the 1990 s. The façade of the Center will be masked by a line of trees, cut down on the island for the occasion. Leaning against one side of the building, these dead trees will block the entrance, profoundly modifying the building s appearance. The Center will thus become a vestige of the past, adopting Cyprien Gaillard s sculptural viewpoint through the dead mass of the trees which carry within the notion of the inexorable march of time, of transformation and degradation. But this also constitutes a pictorial and conceptual inspiration through the evident analogy with the famous painting by Arnold Böcklin, The Isle of the Dead. Starting on the day of the opening, July 14, the Art Center will be held hostage through the conception of a series of events experienced as experiments of which the very structure induces the possibility of failure. The lighthouse will contain an indoor fireworks show, which the viewer can only experience through the sounds and traces of the explosions. Cyprien Gaillard s proposal is liked to the theme of the instantaneous, to experimentation devoid of concessions or illusions. This position evokes the work the Roman Signer in which potential is condensed at the moment when an incident occurs in this case an explosion in other words the moment where the past coagulates with the present moment in order to oppose the menacing force of nature. The transitory quality of fireworks provides a means of emphasizing a history, transformation and degradation through residual traces. Resulting from the same experimental logic, a large wall of sound, buried in the forest, will emit a mix of classical

2 music pieces which will accompany viewers as they move through the park. Conceived as a sonic architecture for the sculpture park, the classical music will give way at midnight to a concert by Koudlam a frequent collaborator of the artist and the composer of the original soundtrack of the film Desniansky Raion. Cyprien Gaillard has chosen to plunge the exhibition into a nocturnal atmosphere which evokes the scenography of the Wünderkammern, or certain historical collections like that of François I or those of natural history museums. In this environment objects are exhibited which are dead or on the verge of ruin, vestiges of a glorious past and unique memories of vanished lives. After having negotiated the obstacles placed by the artist, the visitor will enter into the great nave where around three hundred Polaroids are presented in display cases: the Geographical Analogies, which are confronted with the projection of the film Real Remnants of Fictive Wars part IV, filmed in the dense vegetation of Vietnam. Homes & Graves & Gardens establishes a striking contrast between the basic structures of the postmodern architecture of the Art Center and its interior designed by Aldo Rossi, and its transformation into a grotto, a hypogeum, a cabinet of marvels. The project Real Remnants of Fictive Wars consists of five 35mm films. In each film the artist, accompanied by several accomplices, inflicts violence on landscapes which are paradoxically reminiscent of Romantic painting by using fire extinguishers which release a thick white smoke that is like a heavy menace. If the viewer is at first seduced by the esthetics of the film, he only later becomes aware of the gesture which generated the work, i.e. an act of vandalism which finds its legitimacy in behavior which is authorized by the art world. The salle des études will contain the cover of the record Milestones by Roy Orbison, released in 1973, the year of Robert Smithson s death. Placed under five layers of matte board, the recto verso image represents a series of graffiti on rocks in the American desert, as if they were archeological digs. The little theater will present a video, The Lake Arches, which is particularly dear to the artist. A group of friends are gathered on the edge of a lake with the emblematic architecture of Ricardo Bofill in the background. This video is a portrait with ruins which becomes alive with the image of the bloodied face of one of the young men, a wound resulting from a disastrous fall. The film, which takes on the tone of Greek tragedy, possesses the ambiguous charm of that which escapes definition, eliding any tentative to qualify its status. The scene fascinates through its incongruous violence and at the same time is endlessly seductive at the esthetic level. The water, the origin of life and symbol of innocence, is associated with the architecture present in the background, a second element which impinges on the youth of one of the protagonists. All of Cyprien Gaillard s projects are preliminary studies for the realization of his own park of ruins for the 21 st century. Transported to a utopian park which the artist has yet to define, towers facing demolition from housing projects from all over the world will be preserved in perfect safety after having been taken down and rebuilt like certain medieval castles which were bought by Americans in the 1980 s. Prefiguring the construction of this park, the artist will bring to Vassivière the debris of an immense tower of housing units which will dominate the island like an old and glorious ruin. On the occasion of the exhibition Homes & Graves & Gardens, a catalog will be published by Silvana Editoriale (Milan) under the artistic direction of Paola Manfrin. Cyprien Gaillard was born in He lives and works in Paris. He has recently shown his work at the Jeu de Paume and the galerie Cosmic in Paris, as well as at the Laura Bartlett Gallery in London. Centre international d art et du paysage Ile de Vassivière F Press contact: Frédéric Legros t: (+33) f: (+33) e: communication@ciapiledevassiviere.com Open daily from 11am to 7pm. Admission: full price: 3 euros / reduced price: 1.50 euros; children over 12, students, unemployed/ Free admission: under 12 years, handicapped persons and their accompaniers, Friends of the Centre international d art et du paysage de l île de Vassivière, Artothèque members. Joint admission Centre international d'art et du paysage + Château de l'île de Vassivière: full price: 4 euros/reduced price: 2 euros The Centre international d'art et du paysage is financed by the Ministère de la culture et de la communication / Drac Limousin and the Conseil régional du Limousin and receives the support of the Conseil général de la Creuse and the Syndicat mixte régional et interdépartemental de Vassivière en Limousin (SYMIVA). The exhibition Homes & Graves & Gardens was produced in partnership with Naturalia and Pro Natura.

3 Cyprien Gaillard Born in 1980 in Paris, France Lives and works in Paris, France Diplômé de l'ecal, école cantonale d'art de Lausanne, Lausanne, Suisse Individual exhibitions 2007 Art Unlimited, Bâle, Suisse Azteca, Galerie 1m 3, Lausanne, Suisse Pentagone, L'Atelier du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France Desniansky Raion, Cosmic Galerie, Paris 2006 The Lake Arches, Laura Bartlett Gallery, Londres, Angleterre 2005 One Shot By, Galerie Nuke, Paris, France 2004 It's Just Me and My Brother, Nuit d'encre, Paris, France Group exhibitions 2007 L'Histoire d'une Décennie qui n'est pas encore nommée, Biennale de Lyon 2007, Lyon, France (à venir) Enlarge Your Practice, La Friche de la Belle de Mai, Marseille, France Unknown Pleasures, Stadtgalerie, Bern, Suisse Dazed & Confused vs Andy Warhol, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Angleterre Territoires en expansion, Jeu de Paume hors les murs, Maison d'art Bernard Anthonioz, Nogent-sur-Marne, France Exit, Maison des arts, Créteil, France Black & White, Ibid Project, Londres, Angleterre Salon Nouveau, Engholm Engelhorn Galerie, Wien, Autriche Architectures / Exploring Concrete, Maison de l'architecture et de la ville, Lille, France 2006 Getting Along, Island 6 Art Center, Shangai, Chine Black Flag, Galerie de Multiples, Paris, France Tunnel Vision, Fotomuseum, Anvers, Belgique L'usage du monde, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Rijeka, Croatie Bring the War Home, Elisabeth Dee Gallery, New York, Etats-Unis Bring the War Home 2, QED, Los Angeles,, Etats-Unis Speech Box, Two Scenes in Three Acts, Stockholm, Suède Super, Programmation vidéo dans le cadre du festival Exit, Maison des arts, Créteil, France Abstraction / Surface, le Georges, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France 2005 ECAL, Exposition des Editions ECAL du département arts visuels, Atelier éditions / multiples de Stéphane Dafflon, Galerie de Multiples, Paris, France FIAC 2005, Programmation vidéo pour le Bal Jaune, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France L'ELAC, Exposition des Edition ECAL du département arts visuels, Atelier éditions / multiples de Stéphane Dafflon, Espace lausannois d'art contemporain, Lausanne, Suisse The Elated Pedestrian / Champion #7, Champion Fine Art, Los Angeles, Etats-Unis

4 2004 Nuke, programmation vidéo pour le lancement du magazine Nuke, Anciennes Usines Springcourt, Paris, France 2003 M0PH, Parko, Tokyo, Japon Bibliography (selection) 2007 COLARD Jean-Max, "Desniansky Raion", Artforum, mai 2007 LAUNAY Aude, "Cyprien Gaillard Reloaded Land Art", 02, printemps 2007 JACQUET Claire, "Entre Hubert Robert et Robert Smithson: Cyprien Gaillard" in Document 4, Jeu de Paume, catalogue de l'exposition Territoires en expansion, une nouvelle génération d'artistes, Jeu de Paume hors les murs, Maison d'art Bernard Anthonioz, Nogent-sur-Marne VINCENT Cédric, "Portfolio Cyprien Gaillard", ART21 n 1, mars avril 2007 MALHERBE Anne, "Cyprien Gaillard", Artpress n 332, mars 2007 "Cyprien Gaillard, entre romantisme et vandalisme", Direct Soir, 6 mars 2007 DE BURE Gilles, "Ordre et chaos", Numéro, mars 2007 ROSS MILLIE, "Cyprien Gaillard", in Dazed & Confused n 47, mars 2007 BONNET Marie, "Critics' Picks: Cyprien Gaillard", artforum.com, mars 2007 GARDELLINI Lara, "Cyprien Gaillard: The Lake Arches", Tema Celeste, mars 2007 SMYTH Cherry, "Cyprien Gaillard", Art Review, février 2007 COLARD Jean-Max, "Poétique des ruines", Les Inrockuptibles, 30 janvier 5 février 2007 "Six raisons d'aller voir Cyprien Gaillard", VSD supplément, février 2007 ARLIN Marc, "Art Brut", Spray, février 2007 CORBETTA Caroline, "The Wonderland of Utopia", L'Uomo Vogue, janvier 2007 DAVIES Lillian, "Artist's Profile" UOVO n WARD Ossian, "Cyprien GAILLARD", Time Out Londres, décembre 2006 WILSON Robin, "The Lake Arches", The Architects Journal, 30 novembre 2006 WORLD TOUR , catalogue, octobre 2006 "Bring The War Home", in Art Review, juillet 2006 SHARIFI Payam, "Once Upon a Time", Art Review, juin 2006 TREMBLEY Nicolas, "Cyprien Gaillard", Programme Costes, mai juin "Expo: Le Meilleur de la semaine", Les Inrockuptibles, n 513, 30 novembre 6 décembre 2005 "Expo: Le Meilleur de la semaine", Les Inrockuptibles, n 512, novembre 2005 COLARD Jean-Max, "Feux Pales", Les Inrockuptibles, n 520, novembre 2005 "Galerie Nuke: One shot by...cyprien Gaillard", Paris Art "Exposition: One Shot, Cyprien Gaillard, Galerie Nuke", pourinfos.org, octobre 2005 SHARIFI Payam, "The Rear-Guard of the Avant Garde: Some Thoughts on Cyprien Gaillard's Belief in the Age of Disbelief", catalogue, Galerie Nuke, Paris, octobre 2005 TREMBLEY John, "The Elated Pedestrian", catalogue Champion #7, avril 2005 "Rocco's Art", Boiler, mars PRIGENT Loïc, "Pol'art, Le mystère des T-shirts d'artistes", Beaux Arts Magazine, octobre 2003 BARKLEY Nick, "Why Scotland Needs Tramway", The List, octobre 2003 Mago Journal, août 2003 So-En, août 2003 Art Review, juillet 2003 "L'affaire Colette", DS, mai 2003 BRAUNSTEIN Jacques, "Tendance Arty-Shirt", Elle, mai 2003 Art Forum, avril 2003 French, hiver 2003

5 Les Inrockutibles july 07

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7 Les Inrockuptibles 11 novembre 2010

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10 Beaux-arts magazine, july 07

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12 Flash Art International october 07