COALITION exhibition – associated programming
The COALITION exhibition, showcasing nearly 50 artists united to promote a new culture of ecology and living things, is enriched…
COALITION, 15 years of art and ecology
To celebrate its 15th anniversary, COAL is joining forces with the Gaîté Lyrique to present a major multidisciplinary exhibition featuring almost 50 artists united in a new culture of ecology and life.
Image credits: Lucy & Jorge Orta « PROCESSION BANNERS 1918-2018 », 2018. Banderoles en textiles réalisées à la main par les femmes du HMP Downview, prison à Sutton, Angleterre. Photo©LanceTabraham.
Published on 15 March 2024
Revealing the power of art – the power not only to alert and denounce, but also to repair and connect through gestures of care and sharing, through the power of belief at a time when knowledge alone is no longer enough to motivate action – is the challenge of the COALITION exhibition and of the commitments made by COAL over the last 15 years.
The diversity of artistic practices linked to ecology is abundant, in terms of both content and format, making any definition or categorisation complex. The COALITION exhibition embraces the profusion of gestures, words, actions and practices that make up ‘ecological’ art. From political and symbolic action to resilience practices, witnessing, alerting and transformative practices, a new generation of artists is today helping to make change visible, to build a new collective narrative, a developing common heritage, a conscious, positive and necessary framework for everyone to find the means and inspiration to implement transformations towards a more sustainable and fairer world.
This monumental exhibition, enriched by a wide-ranging programme, is taking over the emblematic space of the Gaîté Lyrique. It is curated by Lauranne Germond, co-founder and director of COAL, and Sara Dufour, curator and programme director of the association.
It brings together the works and interventions of some fifty French, European and international artists, pioneers, both renowned and emerging:
Ackroyd & Harvey (UK), Maria Thereza Alves (BR), Art Orienté Objet (FR), Brandon Ballengée (US), Thierry Boutonnier (FR), Alex Cecchetti (IT), Julian Charrière (FR-CH), Paul Duncombe (FR), Fabiana Ex-Souza (BRA), Sara Favriau (FR), Feipel et Bechameil (BE), Beya Gille Gacha (FR), Marina Gioti (GR), Shaun Gladwell (AU), Noémie Goudal (FR), Elsa Guillaume (FR), Louis Guillaume (FR), Hehe (UK/DE), Suzanne Husky (FR), Hypercomf (GR), Martin Le Chevallier (FR), Sandra Lorenzi (FR), Angelika Markul (FR/PL), Le Nouveau Ministère de l’Agriculture (FR), Lucy+Jorge Orta (FR), Stéfane Perraud and Aram Kebabdjian (FR), Clément Richem (FR), Belen Rodriguez (ES), Stéphanie Sagot (FR), Erik Samakh (FR), Linda Sanchez (FR), Momoko Seto (JP), Stefan Shankland (FR), Shivay La Multiple (FR/NC), Laurent Tixador et Julia Hanadi Al Abed (FR), Anaïs Tondeur (FR), Paula Valero Comin (IT), Marie Velardi (CH), Capucine Vever (FR) et Michael Wang (US).
Together, they are bearing witness, imagining and experimenting with peaceful transformations of territories, ways of life, organisation and production. Through their proposals, they are trying to act on the systems at the root of the ecological crisis, to denounce them, short-circuit them and influence them; to deprogram the imaginary by writing new utopian and dystopian narratives; to build new ways of thinking about the future. topoï (“place, location” in Greek) based on community ties, alliances with non-human beings, joint action, conviviality and the power of symbols. Together, they are drawing the outlines of a deliberately political artistic action and a deliberately artistic political ecology.
15 years ago, bringing art and ecology together, and getting nature conservationists to work alongside cultural players and artists, was not something that could be taken for granted. 15 years later, this convergence is becoming increasingly obvious, exacerbated by the acceleration of environmental issues, which is encouraging fundamental reflection, restructuring and the invention of new ways of living on Earth. This exhibition presents an overview of a generation of committed artists through projects that have left their mark on the history of environmental art. All practices and ways of approaching the living world through art and the senses, from bearing witness to activism, via community-building and resilience practices.
Showcasing a wide variety of artistic approaches – sculpture, painting, photography, installation, performance, documents – but also and above all participative projects, protocols, rituals, somatic practices, research-creation, in situ creation, shared experiences… Works, performances and activations tell the story of a different relationship with nature, with materials, with all the components of the living world, and invite us to glimpse the perspectives of a future world, through an experience marked by discovery and awakening.
COALITION exhibition at the Gaîté Lyrique – Great Gallery [Niveau -1]
24 April – 2 June 2024. Free entry.
Tuesday to Friday, 2pm to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday, 2pm to 7pm.
Opening on 23 April. Nocturnals on Saturday 27 April, 18 May and 1st June.
