February 18–May 12, 2024
CRAC Alsace—Centre Rhénan d’Art Contemporain
18 rue du Château
68130 Altkirch, France
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 2-6pm
T +33 3 89 08 82 59
April 27–July 13, 2024
Centre d’Art Contemporain d’Ivry—le Crédac
La Manufacture des Œillets
1 Place Pierre Gosnat
94200 Ivry-sur-Seine, France
Hours: Wednesday-Friday 2-6pm / Saturday-Sunday 2-7pm
T + 33 1 49 60 25 06
Free shuttle from Basel to CRAC Alsace: Sunday, February 18, 10.45am, departure from Meret Oppenheim Strasse, in front of the skatepark, perpendicular to Solothurnerstrasse. Return to Basel at 2.30pm. RSVP and press contact: Maria Gamboa, m.gamboa [at] cracalsace.com
At CRAC Alsace and Crédac, we are really motivated by sharing ideas, collaborating and pooling methods. One day, we brought to the table the Temple de l’Amitié (the temple of friendship), located at 20 rue Jacob in Paris and home to the American writer Natalie Clifford Barney from 1908 to 1972. This temple and its garden fascinate us. They hosted an influential literary salon, extravagant parties, lively discussions, torrid encounters and timeless friendships. We share these bonds of complicity with the artists and their pieces. Friendship provides our practices with a unique experience of art. Friendship constitutes a space for thinking, creating, entwining. Friendship leads us to push open doors: the doors to the garden of the Temple de l’Amitié.
Reading the poem “Au Temple de l’Amitié” by Natalie Clifford Barney, the words “Friendship : that shiver, that aspen”* resonate with us. Near to the aspen, we perceive bodies, laughter and friendships. These bodies capsize, laughter erupts, and the aspen shivers, meanwhile, a snail: “Like the shell of a snail, our friendship grows by a new ring each year.”** One more ring.
The consideration of friendship as a method more than a subject helps us shape this exhibition that will straddle our two art centers and be constructed collectively with the artists, their friends and draw on the energy that drives us resolutely. We thus give full rein to the plurality of voices among which we invite you to add yours.
Friendly regards,
The teams of CRAC Alsace and Crédac
* Natalie Clifford Barney, Les Nouvelles pensées de l’Amazone (Paris: Mercure de France, 1939).
** Ibid.
Friendship : That Shiver, That Aspen, is a group exhibition organized in collaboration with the Centre d’Art Contemporain d’Ivry—le Crédac, bringing together Boris Achour (with Émilie Renard), Noémie Bablet, Caroline Bachmann, Anna Byskov (with Bertil Byskov, Margaret Byskov, Camila Farina and Sophie Lamm), Thomas Cap de Ville, Caretto & Spagna, Lola Gonzàlez, Donna Gottschalk, Tom Hallet, Eric Hattan (with Silvia Bächli, Rut Himmelsbach, Guido Nussbaum, Hannah Villiger and Anna Winteler), Dorothy Iannone and Sarah Pucci, Youri Johnson, Edit Oderbolz, Hatice Pinarbaşi (with Aram Abbas, Zahna Siham Benamor, Hugo Ferretto and Elif Pinarbaşi), Marthe Ramm Fortun, Marnie Slater (with Robin Brettar, Matilda Cobanli, Judith Geerts, Jessica Gysel, Katja Mater and Clare Noonan) and Sarah Tritz.
The exhibition Friendship : That Shiver, That Aspen will unfold at CRAC Alsace from Frebruary 18 to May 12; and at Crédac from April 27 to July 13, 2024.
