Galleria Continua inaugurated a two-floor 800 square meter space on the corner of Rue du Temple and Rue Michel-le-Comte, just next to the Centre Pompidou. It will be an unconventional project, open to experimentation, an experience space beyond the usual canons of art shows. It will be an exhibiting space, a café, a store and a place for gathering, meeting and discussing.
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"The project stems from the idea of creating a welcoming space, a convivial, flexible, inclusive place, accessible to all, architecturally not homologated to the canons of the white cube; a workshop of contemporary languages that combines art, sociality and culture. An environment open to multiculturalism where people with different histories, resources and interests can meet, even if only to read a magazine or to exchange impressions, experiences and projects," say Mario Cristiani, Lorenzo Fiaschi and Maurizio Rigillo, founders of Galleria Continua.
Curated by the artist JR, "Truc à faire" is the first event opening this new artistic project; a title that expresses the need to respond to a contingent and unavoidable call: "something to do".
JR decided to overtake the classical display of works. The art pieces by Michelangelo Pistoletto, Leandro Erlich, Daniel Buren, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Anish Kapoor, Jannis Kounellis (and by many other artists of the gallery) will creep into every nook and cranny, conquering the hundreds of shelves hanging on the walls, without modifying the original structure, rather revealing its past history.
"A space where works of art are sold, halfway between a cathedral and a supermarket, it is a place where you approach infinity and buy consumer objects. I am used to working with art galleries and also to being out in the street and talking to passers-by. For this new space, I wanted to combine the two universes, to create a place inhabited by art where we come to walk, where we return a few weeks later to discover a new universe, where we encounter works by artists of different generations, from five continents: from Ai Weiwei, to Daniel Buren, Anish Kapoor, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Pascale Marthine Tayou, to name but a few. I would like it to be a space for discussion, encounters, surprises, where we buy a book and find out if it is signed by its author once we open it, where we can have a good Italian coffee in a moving environment, where we immerse ourselves in the works present" (JR).
Once the show will be over MBL architects will redesign the space which will be stripped bare. It will then be renovated to host new exhibitions and for each future show the subsequent renovations will reflect the gallery's activities, marking a continuum between art and life.
Truc à faire will be open until 20 February 2021 - have a look here to see what it is about.