AlbumArte opens its exhibition space in Rome with the first solo exhibition in Italy by Christine Rebet, Meltingsun
Opening on October 7th 2014 at 6.30 p.m. | Via Flaminia 122, Rome
On Tuesday October 7th 2014, there will be the opening in Rome of the new exhibition space of the non-profit association AlbumArte, which has already launched various projects, including Anteprima, a program of artistic residencies that has been held since 2011 in Istanbul, Paris, Prague and Rome and that will soon be conducted also in Venice.
The old ex-stable buildings of Villa Poniatowsky on Via Flaminia in north-central Rome, once a storage and deposit area for public transport vehicles, then used by AlbumArte as a workshop for artists in residence, have now become a multi-functional space for exhibitions, performances, workshops, video-screenings and itinerant artistic activities. The cultural projects that will animate the AlbumArte space, in addition to those promoted by the association in various other venues, will involve artists who are able to extend their artistic practices beyond the scope of the visual arts alone. Motivated by the firm belief that it is essential to solicit the active participation of the public AlbumArte will host a range of dynamic and original projects, promoting the residencies of artists as well as dynamic interactions between artists, curators, associations, collectors, museums and other national and international institutions. The president of the association is Cristina Cobianchi, while the artistic direction of the space has been entrusted to Maria Rosa Sossai.
Inaugurating the space of AlbumArte, on Tuesday 7th October at 6.30pm, there will be the first solo exhibition in Italy of Christine Rebet. Entitled Meltingsun it will be curated by Maria Rosa Sossai and Francesco Urbano Ragazzi.
This exhibition will be the culmination of an artist-in-residence programme organized by the Roman association, during which the French artist will work in close collaboration with the curatorial duo Francesco Urbano Ragazzi.
After a long process of exchange and research conducted at a distance, the artist and the curators are finally meeting in the project space for contemporary art of AlbumArte in Rome in order to give birth to Meltingsun: a blazing but totally artificial sun that comes alive in the drawings and sculptures of the French artist who currently lives and works in Paris and New York.
The exhibition presents the artist’s studio as it would appear if it were a maison de luxe, with a totally anomalous production line consisting of sketches, casts and metal machines, in which the traces of a rather unlikely collection of jewels can be seen. Here the structures of the body proliferate and re-emerge, transfigured and stripped of their sensational shine. A regal set of jewellery created by Mellerio dits Meller – the oldest family of jewellers in Europe that has been supplying queens from all over the world since the 17th century, when the firm was founded under the patronage of Marie de’ Medici – now loses its veneer of vanity and is transformed into voodoo amulets, chains, medals, shields and armour. Alongside the radical reinterpretation of royal dress codes, Meltingsun further explores the language of the privileged elite by appropriating its most typical gestures and expressions. As with the prototypes and models of a fashion collection, the titles of Rebet’s works resonate in the spaces of AlbumArte with attractively gracious irony, evoking fantasies that are by turns exotic, colonial, industrial and military, while artfully combining fashion with the imitation of nature: Symphony of a satin chiffoneur, Heaven infused, Blue Maidens, Duchess on Tortoise Escape, Duet Solomite, Steamline crusaders, Wasteland, Nap in Hamada, Nécessaire pour Héritière.
The exhibition Meltingsun is the crowning point of a process of research that started with Duplex, a project by Francesco Urbano Ragazzi and AlbumArte, which developed during the curatorial duo’s period of residency at the Cité des Arts in Paris in February, 2014. It is part of the official agenda of the event Tandem Paris Rome 2014, a cultural twinning scheme between Paris and Rome, in collaboration with the Mairie de Paris, Cité des Arts de Paris, Institut Français, Roma Capitale and the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Rome (Paris | Rome February 1st – December 13th, 2014).
During the first part of their residency, promoted by the Direction des Affaires Culturelles de la Ville de Paris, the two curators began an investigation into the art scene of Paris, in collaboration with various important figures who are particularly active in the contemporary art scene in the city. These included: Kathy Alliou, the head of the department of scientific and cultural development of the École Nationale Superieure de Beaux Arts – Marianne Derrien, an independent critic and curator – Elisabeth Lebovici, an art critic and professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales – Claire Le Restif, the director of the Crédac Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry – Christian Merlhiot, the head of the Pavillon Neuflize OBC (Palais de Tokyo) – Caroline Niémant, the curator and founder of the magazine Peeping Tom – Chiara Parisi, the director of the cultural programs of the Monnaiede Paris – and Jean-François Rettig, the director of the new media festival Les Rencontres Internationales. Out of the over 100 artists that the two curators met in Paris, together with Cristina Cobianchi and Maria Rosa Sossai they finally selected the artist Christine Rebet for the residency and solo show in Rome, in which Rebet will develop and integrate the discourse that she began in Paris with the curators and critics, regarding the idea of the “spatialization” of the drawing.
Meltingsun is realized thanks to the support of IRI Real Estate, Rome.
Thanks to Casale del Giglio.
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Christine Rebet lives and works in New York and Paris. Her work is based on the drawing and it develops into forms ranging from animation to the environment, installations and performance art. At the heart of her work is the elaboration of historical traumas in the context of a personal reinterpretation and a consequent reanimation. Rebet studied in Columbia University and Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, London. She has exhibited and held performances in various international contexts including: SITE, Santa Fé; Sculpture Center, Long Island – New York; Le Magasin, Grenoble; the Shangai Art Museum; Parasol Unit, London; the Kamel Mennour Gallery, Paris; Taka Ishii, Tokyo; X-initiative, New York; the Cartier Foundation, Paris; Unge Kunstneres Samfund (UKS), Oslo; Smack Mellon, Brooklyn – New York; the Gregor Podnar Gallery, Slovenia; the James Fuentes Gallery, New York; the Guild and Greyskhul Gallery, New York; the Wexner center for the Arts, Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Her films have been presented in various events and festivals including the Berlinale Short Film Festival, Berlin; the Oberhausen Short Film Festival; the Scotia Novia film festival, Canada; the Chicago film festival, USA; Expresion en Corto, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Trip to the world of drawing animation, Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, Nigata, Nagoya and Fukuoka); the Nemo Film Festival, Paris; Animà Festival international de Cinema de Catalunya, Spain; the Jakarta Film Festival; the BFI London Film Festival; the MIFF Manchester International Film Festival; Festival International De Curtas, Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Murat Art – French Short Film Festival, New York; the Singapore International Film Festival.
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Data sheet
Artist: Christine Rebet | Exhibition title: Meltingsun
Curated by: Maria Rosa Sossai and Francesco Urbano Ragazzi
Opening on: Tuesday October 7th 2014 at 6.30 p.m.
Duration of the exhibition: from October 7th to December 13th, 2014
Location: AlbumArte | Project Space, Via Flaminia 122 Rome
Opening Hours: from Tuesday to Saturday 3-7 p.m. (or by appointment)
The exhibition is part of the project Duplex, involving the residency of two curators and an artist in Paris and Rome
Project by: Francesco Urbano Ragazzi and AlbumArte
On the official agenda of Tandem Paris Rome 2014
With the support of: Mairie de Paris, Cité Internationale des Arts – Paris, Institut Français, Roma Capitale, Department of Culture of the Municipality of Rome
For more information
AlbumArte | spaces and projects for contemporary art, Via Flaminia 122, 00196 Rome (RM), Italy
Website www.albumarte.org
Email info@albumarte.org
Tel. (+39) 06 3227802 / Fax (+39) 06 3290296
President Cristina Cobianchi / Artistic Director Maria Rosa Sossai
Project coordinator Valentina Fiore – valentinafiore@albumarte.org
ChiNa Press Office – china@chinapressoffice.it Chiara Ciucci Giuliani +39 392 917 3661
WITH THE SUPPORT OF
