ESPACE MURAILLE - EDMUND DE WAAL EXHIBITION - 01.20-2017.04.31, Geneva

Published by: Virginie Burnet - L'art en plus | 11-Dec-2016
The British artist Edmund de Waal will take over Espace Muraille, a singular and engaged exhibition space devoted to contemporary art, located in the heart of Geneva's old town. Dreamt up by the collector and creator of Espace Muraille Caroline Freymond, the event has been orchestrated by Laurence Dreyfus, the exhibition curator, in collaboration with the artist and the Gagosian gallery. @l_art_en_plus #lartenplus @oliviadesmedt
Venue: Espace Muraille
Address: Geneva
Date: 20th to April 31st, 2017
Web: lartenplus.com
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Edmund de Waal was born in Nottingham in 1964. He lives and works in London. A graduate of the universities of Cambridge and Sheffield, Edmund de Waal completed his research on ceramics at the University of Westminster in London. His work is exhibited in some of the most prestigious museums in the world, such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt, the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

The artistic and literary work of Edmund de Waal highlights his long-lasting fascination for the profound nature of objects and what can be expressed through their collection and presentation. A ceramicist since childhood as well as an acclaimed author, his obsession for porcelain (the "white gold") has exposed him to countless people and places which have helped him to deepen his understanding of the profound nature of matter.

De Waal is mostly renowned for his vast installations of porcelain objects, exhibited in museums the world over. A large part of his recent work concerns the idea of gathering or collecting, and how objects can be assembled, kept, lost, stolen or dispersed. His work is inspired by the dialogue between minimalism, architecture and sound, and nourished by his passion for literature.

Espace Muraille, a singular space devoted to contemporary art

Located in the old fortifications at the foot of Geneva's old town, Espace Muraille is a creative, animated and open space devoted to international contemporary art. It was created by Caroline and Eric Freymond, a couple of passionate and engaged art collectors.

Temporary exhibitions, artists' personal projects and works from a rich permanent collection succeed each other over two levels and 275 square metres. The project is situated in the foundations of an 18th century private hotel. This place charged with history was rethought and remodelled by MVT - a local architecture firm - in order to be turned over to contemporary art. A reinvention rather than a metamorphosis, aiming to preserve the magic of the old walls, which had long served as a cellar and were slumbering, forgotten, beneath layers of dust. According to Caroline Freymond, the creator and artistic director of Espace Muraille, the aim of the space is to "showcase contemporary artists and artisans as well as private collections, encouraging a rapprochement and dialogue between works; whether they have elements in common, or are diametrically opposed." Concerts, conferences, debates, meetings between creators and other cultural activities also take place in order to foster dialogue and exchange. The space tends to favour artists' personal projects which are imagined and carried out in situ.

Many projects have succeeded each other since the opening of the gallery in 2012, such as those conceived by the Parisian gallery owner Kamel Mennour - who gathered the artists François Morellet and Tadashi Kawamata for the "Carte Blanche" exhibition - or the Japanese plastic artist Yohei Nishimura and the pastellist Pierre Skira, who exhibited side by side around the theme of the book. The summer of 2015 saw an exhibition which aimed to create a dialogue between the works of Anish Kapoor and Olafur Eliasson. Large-scale solo shows have been devoted to artists such as the French Monique Frydman, the Iranian Shirazeh Houshiary, the Argentine Tomàs Saraceno as well as the American Sheila Hicks.

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