The exhibition aims to establish a dialogue between photographers Paul Clemence and Julien Spiewak. The works chosen for this exhibition deal with perception of space inside and outside international museums. The components of architecture and Interiors are explored in both artist’s practices inviting for the reflection about not only the role of museums but how aesthetics influence our appreciation of their collections.
Clemence highlights Architecture’s intangible and elusive qualities through personal perceptions of the built landscape in its forms and scales, such as buildings, cities, and interiors. Whether the texture of a wall, or an intricate structural detail, a street corner, or a light moment revealing the expansive quality of a room, Clemence’s work informs in new ways the sense of experiential aesthetics in time and space.
Spiewak works explore the occupation of space with furniture and objects and how they engage with the human body. He produces staged images where interiors and body parts intersect in relation to the history of buildings, its furniture and its previous occupants. By placing an unexpected body part in his frame, the photographer invites the viewer to re-read the space and its with a dash of humor.
The role of museum in society has been a recurring discussion in the beginning of his century. This exhibition examines the museum as a place based on its perceived role in society from conservation of our past to interpretation and engagement with a present viewer. In times when museums help understand and shape community identity and inspire and address social issues, we propose a perspective of the Museum as the artwork itself. It is not the building nor the collection they keep. It is the experience it provides to the viewer.
The resulting encounter of these two photographers and their imagery takes viewers into an insightful journey of discovery, an awakening of their own relation to the built world and its effects and affects in their experience with museums.
Luciana Solano – Independent curator
Paul Clemence is an award-winning photographer and artist exploring the cross sections of design, art and architecture. He exhibits in the international fine arts circuit, from classic B & W prints to cutting edge large scale photographic urban installation, participating in events such as Fuori Salone in Milan, ArtBasel/DesignMiami and the Venice Architecture Biennale. A published author, his volume Mies van der Rohe’s FARNSWORTH HOUSE remains to this day the most complete photo documentation of that iconic modern residential design, and a selection of these photos is part of the Mies van der Rohe Archives housed by MoMa, New York. He is widely published in arts, architecture and lifestyle magazines like Metropolis, ArchDaily, Architizer, Casa Vogue Brasil and others. Archi-Photo, aka Architecture Photography, his Facebook photo blog quickly became a photography and architecture community, with over 970,000 followers worldwide. An architect by training, Clemence is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Julien Spiewak completed a master’s degree after studying photography at the Paris VIII University. He’s an artist, photographer, researcher who questions the relations between photography and the human body as an artistic expression. Since 2005 he works on the series Corps de Style, which takes place inside museums and private collections in France and abroad. The inventory he makes is precise, except for one thing – a body part that intrudes in the set. He explores the strange confrontation between antique furniture and the nudity of the skin, the intrusion of an element that awakes a surrounding frozen in time. The artist has worked on images from the museums such as: Museum Van Loon, The Nederlands; Doria Pamphilj Palace, Italy; Cognacq-Jay Museum, France; Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris; Musée Ariana, Genève and Palais Princier, Monaco.
Museum Forms
Until December 22, 2019
Espace L
23, rue des Bains
120 Genève CH
