We sat down with Valeria Cetraro, Sophie and Edouard Escougnou.
You’re a young gallery. Can you tell us how this adventure began for you three?
Sophie Escougnou: We opened a little over a year ago in July 2013. I had been working for Polka, where I was responsible for off-site exhibitions. Edouard, my brother, is a photographer. And Valeria is an architect who has always been interested in the visual arts. We used to go to gallery openings together, and the idea for the gallery came out of our discussions. The goal was not only to promote the work of artists we like, but to explore the medium of photography through the visual arts.
How do you divide up the work?
SE: Keep in mind that we chose the name because See Studio is both a gallery and an agency. Edouard and Valeria are more responsible for the artistic and curatorial side of the gallery, whereas I’m more responsible for its administrative side, as well as for the agency.
Valeria Cetraro: Edouard and I formed a kind of collective, or rather a laboratory devoted to curation, and it seemed natural for us to choose the artists together.
Edouard Escougnou: We’re a little team but interact a lot. Our positions are largely interchangeable, so that makes things easier.
VC: Plus, our backgrounds are complementary, so we’re able to handle different subjects at the same time without having to resort to external help. That said, we all have a general view of what’s going on at See Studio.
And the agency is also called See Studio?
SE: Yes, the gallery and the agency have the same name. Both are focused on the image, but from two completely different angles. “SEE” is from our initials (Sophie, Edouard, Escougnou), and “Studio” because we place a strong emphasis on research, exchange and experimentation.
You mentioned that photography was central to the gallery. How would you define its approach?
VC: We didn’t want to position ourselves as anything too eclectic. That doesn’t mean we aren’t open to multidisciplinary work. But the foundation of our programming is a relatively precise field of exploration: the role of photography in the visual arts. By working with artists, we’ve been able to explore different ways of questioning and developing the medium of photography, both formally and through the story the subject the photograph conveys as well as its relationship to reality and fiction. Photography today has become more about documenting an artistic action. What we’re exploring is how the photograph itself can become the material of these actions.
EE: In November, we’ll be presenting a group exhibition entitled Au delà de l’image (Beyond the Image). Valeria and I have invited six artists to respond to the question. Our current exhibition raises similar question, since it features the work of artists who aren’t photographers even though the work on display is photographic. The issue of documentation is central to it.
Read the full interview on the French version of L’Oeil.
INFORMATIONS
Galerie SEE Studio
7, rue Saint-Claude
75003 Paris
tel. +33 (0)9 83 02 52 93
[email protected]
http://seestudio.fr
EXHIBITION
Currently :
Jean-Baptiste Lenglet : History Of Trance
Part I : September 6 – 20, 2014
Part II : October 2 – 31, 2014
Next :
Au delà des images
David de Beyter, Emmanuel Le Cerf, Jean-Baptiste Lenglet, Aurélie Pétrel, Pia Rondé & Fabien Saleil
November 6 – December 20, 2014
