Julien Creuzet: Oh téléphone, oracle noir (…)

As a prelude to the 60th International Art Exhibition—the Venice Biennale (April 20—November 24, 2024) where Julien Creuzet will represent France, co-curators Céline Kopp and Cindy Sissokho are pleased to present a solo exhibition by the artist at Le Magasin CNAC (National Centre for Contemporary Art) in Grenoble, France.

From November 17, 2023 to May 26, 2024, Le Magasin CNAC proposes a moment to retrospectively acknowledge Creuzet’s wide artistic practice through a consequential presentation of Creuzet’s video and sculptural works. This selection of works enters in multiple dialogues with five other contemporary voices: Phoebe Collings-James, Christina Kimeze, Manuel Mathieu, Bruno Peinado, and Chloé Quenum.

Borrowing its title from an early video work by Julien Creuzet from 2015, the exhibition Oh téléphone, orale noir (…) [Oh telephone, black oracle (…)] occupies more than 2000 square metres of exhibition space at Magasin in Grenoble. This medium underpins the artist’s oeuvre and represents the heart of his creative universe. Energetic rhythms, haunting words, fleeting body movements, and redolent poems are some of the primary components of the environments crafted by the artist. His sculptures appear suspended within a horizontal landscape under Gustave Eiffel’s glass roof in Le Magasin’s iconic La Rue Intérieure.

Oh téléphone, oracle noir (…) was born out of a desire to broaden the conversation around Julien Creuzet’s work and accentuate the important role that relationships play in his practice. The notion of multiplicity that shapes his work is also at the core of this solo exhibition. As if taking a breath, leaning in, stepping back, or illuminating, the presence of artworks by accompanying artists manifests the power that lies at the heart of a common imaginary.

The resonances and echoes around Julien Creuzet’s work is also present in a companion exhibition entitled Ailleurs est ce rêve proche, de murmures d’eaux confiantes (…) [elsewhere this dream is close at hand, murmurs of trusting waters (…)] curated by Alexia Pierre that is conceived as an ode to peer-to-peer sharing, and testifies to Creuzet’s commitment to the process of transmission and education. The exhibition brings together the artists Thomas Besset, Sofia Bonilla Otoya, and Nina Jayasuriya, all three of whom graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2023 and studied at Julien Creuzet’s studio.

The Magasin, National Centre for Contemporary Art (CNAC) in Grenoble was created in 1986, and has established itself as one of the most important art centres in France. It occupies 3000 square metres of space in a former industrial warehouse with a metal framework designed by Gustave Eiffel, which was converted into an art centre by the architect Patrick Bouchain. From 1987 to 2016, The École du MAGASIN—the first international curatorial studies programme in Europe—offered team training and research in curating as one of the key activities of the art centre. Early 2024, a publication will be released addressing new directions for the reopening of the school. 

About Julien Creuzet
Julien Creuzet  (b.1986 in the Parisian suburbs) grew up in Martinique and now lives and works in Montreuil (France). Past solo exhibitions include the LUMA Foundation, Arles and Zurich, 2022–23; Camden Arts Centre, London, 2021; CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, 2019; Palais De Tokyo, Paris, 2019; and Fondation Ricard, Paris, 2018.  Creuzet has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including the 35th São Paulo Bienal; 12th Liverpool Biennial; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Musée Tinguely, Basel; National Gallery of Prague; Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Middletown; Manifesta 13 Marseille; Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris; Kampala Biennale); Gwangju Biennale. In 2021, Creuzet was nominated for the Prix Marcel Duchamp, and in 2019 was the recipient of the Camden Arts Centre Prize at Frieze London.

He will represent France at the 60th International Art Exhibition—the Venice Biennale in 2024 with curators Céline Kopp and Cindy Sissokho.

Press contact: Nadia Fatnassi nadia [​at​] closeencounters.fr.