How did the gallery come about? What were you hoping to accomplish?
Christine Ollier: The story of the gallery is both simple and complicated. It belongs to Stéphane Magnan, a businessman, who hired me to create a gallery that would be both an economic tool for artists and an agency with larger production and distribution networks than a conventional gallery. In addition to our participation at fairs and our own exhibitions, we have developed a system of co-production and publishing with the artists and institutions. We have been delighted by the impressive participation from institutions on a national and international level. And we’ve worked extensively with emerging French photographers, painters and video artists. In some ways we’re a sort of sounding board for the artists we work with.
So there’s no common thread running through your programming?
Oh, I think we’re very clear about our position. We worked in abstract painting for a long time, and now we’ve opened ourselves up to questions of representation. Not only in painting, but also in photography. We’re not following any specific lines, but rather covering fields. The field of photography, of course, but we’re also trying to include all of the questions surrounding the image, including the difference between what used to be called “visual photography,” which is conceptual, fictional, narrative and in the tradition of the fine arts, from documentary photography, which, coming from a specific trend in photography, is moving closer to contemporary art. Then there’s “political photography” and the more poetic “art photography.” What interests me is viewing photography in its entirety and not being limited by my own perceptions of what it might be.
How do you divide the work among your collaborators?
We have two directors who must oversee both the strategy and the programming. We both take part in those decisions, although I’m usually a little more involved, since its my profession, although Stéphane Magnan may well have his own interests. Let’s say that we have veto power over each other. Stéphane accepts or rejects certain artists, and at the same time, offers me names. My team is very proactive. We really work as a team, and in the long-term. It’s not just the artists who stay with us. The staff does, too. Charlotte Boudon and Marie Magnier would be able to speak about it just as well as I can. It requires being dynamic, and entering into dialogue with all the artists. Everyone on the team is pretty much free when it comes to deciding which artists they work with. So, yes, we truly are working together here.
Read the full article on the French version of L’Oeil.
Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire
17, rue des Filles du Calvaire
75003 Paris
tel. +33 (0)1 42 74 47 05
[email protected]
http://www.fillesducalvaire.com
Previously exhibitions :
A Period of Juvenile Prosperity – Mike Brodie
Carnets – Matt Wilson
From Ocotber 31st to November 30th, 2014
Opening view on Ocotber 30th, 2014 6pm-9pm
