Description

“Presented in a private space, the works of the exhibition Textile Languages integrate a bold contemporary architecture of modernist inspiration, thus somehow giving body to the ideas of the German-born American artist Anni Albers (1899-1994). To quote Albers, who taught at the Bauhaus and was one of the pioneer figures of textile design: “If nature of architecture is by definition to be rigid and permanent, that of textile is the very opposite”. The exhibition presents work by some fifteen artists, coming from diverse cultural backgrounds and generations, with a focus though on the Indian emerging scene. Practices where notions such as intimacy, memory, repetition or collective experience come to the fore, are confronted with practices expressing more politically critical visions of the world, encapsulated by the choice of textile as a creative medium. If a derivation from the revival of the neo-crafts trend (which by the way questions the very notion of craftsmanship) is to be considered, it is mainly the expressive potential of the medium, its ability to create a language and convey a message that is here put to the fore, beyond mere aesthetic criteria.”

Texts: Nathalie Guiot, Erwan Mahéo, Julie Marchan, Philippe Terrier-Hermann

Exhibited artists: Caroline Achaintre, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Charlotte Beaudry, Hemali Bhuta, Alighiero e Boetti, Baptist Coelho, Anita Dube, Meschac Gaba, André Guedes, Marie-Ange Guilleminot, Sheila Hicks, Ali Kazma, Erwan Mahéo, Jonathan Monk, Fay Nicholson, Prajakta Potnis, Philippe Terrier-Hermann, Brent Wadden