The BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation and HEAD – Genève are pleased to announce the exhibition and the Awards presentation of the New Heads – BNP Paribas Foundation Art Awards. On January 18, 2017, a jury composed of international figures will reward the works of two graduates in Master Visual Arts from HEAD – Genève, within the framework of a group exhibition entrusted to Jeanne Graff, an independent curator and writer who works in Lausanne and New York. Once again this year, artgenève will be involved in the New Heads: from January 26 to January 29, as part of a unique partnership, the art fair will display the winners’ works, giving them an unprecedented incursion through the world of art professionals.
The exhibition entitled L’Oranger by Jeanne Graff, displays the works of nine leading figures who studied visual arts and graduated from HEAD – Genève in June 2016. After some research through conversations and visits, the curator set up a group made up of Guillaume Dénervaud, Mathias Good, Yu-Wen Julia Hung, Viola Lukacs, Real Madrid, Aude Richards, Sabrina Röthlisberger, Gaïa Vincensini, Galaxia Wang. Although very different from one another, their artistic approaches coincide in many ways. Aligned with questioning characteristics to the latest initiatives of Jeanne Graff, the exhibition is the result of a collective process, fluctuating between the development of a transitory community of artists and the affirmation of unique worlds, of positions which, put together, reflect shared and intimate concerns of a generation of emerging artists.
This year, the Jury is composed of Anne Dressen, curator for the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Juliana Huxtable, artist (New York),
Linyao Kiki Liu, Head of Sishang Art Museum (Beijing), Francesca Pia, gallery owner (Zürich), Rosmarie Richner, general secretary of The Nestlé Foundation for Art and Jacqueline Uhlmann, Fair Manager of the List Art Fair (Basel). On the opening night, these leading figures will award one the two New Heads awards, the second being left with the representatives of BNP Paribas Group in Switzerland. These prizes which worth CHF 12,000 each constitute a strong and crucial financial support with regard to the work development of these young artists. They also give them the opportunity to be introduced in the prestigious collection compiled by the BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation.
Artgenève partners the New Heads – BNP Paribas Foundation Art Awards. Just like last year, the art fair will be staging, from January 26 to January 29, a group exhibition also developed by Jeanne Graff. It will display all nominees’ works. This unprecedented partnership between a school, a foundation and a contemporary art fair provides the selected young artists with an opportunity to show their works in a high standard professional environment already affiliated to an international art market.
Finally, Le Temps reiterates its support to the emerging artists and, by editing a piece of work of one of the artists displayed at the exhibition, it will widen the collection of multiples to which readers are offered to subscribe.
The exhibition catalogue, conceived by Jeanne Graff, is a unique editorial object which was laid out by Dan Solbach, a Swiss graphic designer settled in Berlin. It is based on a series of booklets and inserts produced by the artists of the exhibition, supplemented with a section of texts at the center which includes a group interview with the participating artists at the exhibition L’Oranger was conducted with Catherine Chevalier, art critic and publisher based in Paris.
‘’These prizes envisioned by HEAD – Genève and BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation and intended for young talented people stems from a shared desire to create an effective professional launch pad for the school graduates in Visual Arts. These shared goals and the close cooperation that links the Foundation and its partners have helped to achieve, in the four previous editions, a challenging project to the benefit of emerging artists’’, states Geoffroy Bazin, the President of the BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation.
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The curator
Both curator and writer, Jeanne Graff founded 186f Kepler in 2014. She co-founded and ran the Art spaces 1m3 in Lausanne (2006 – 2014) and Graff Mourgue d’Algue in Geneva (2011 – 2014).
She organised exhibitions and events at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, at Francesca Pia gallery in Zürich, at the Anthology Film Archives in New York, at I :Project Space in Beijing, at the Power Station in Dallas and at the Hepworth Wakefield Museum (with Solar Lice group) ; she also organised solo exhibitions for John Armleder, Ericka Beckman, Anne Imhof, Louise Nevelson, Sylvère Lotringer, Juliana Huxtable, Isabelle Cornaro, Tobias Madison, Elsi Giauque, Vittorio Brodmann, Mathis Altmann, Dewar & Gicquel and Stefan Tcherepnin, among others.
Jeanne Graff contributed to the monographic catalogues of Ericka Beckman (Kunsthalle Bern – JRP/Ringier), Drip Event (Power Station, Dallas), and the revue 3AM (London) ; she contributed to MAY magazine (Paris) on a regular basis. Her first short story Vzszhhzz will be published by Semiotext(e) – MIT Press in 2017.
Jeanne Graff was born in Vevey (Switzerland) ; she lives in New York.
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The BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation
Created in 2002, The BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation will be celebrating its fifteenth anniversary in 2017. has assigned itself the task of promoting dialogue between the bank and its surrounding environment, on issues that are as much cultural, as they are social and environmental..
Historically, The BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation has been particularly committed to participate in restoration programmes of major works by Max Ernst, Auguste Rodin, Bram van Velde and Paul Véronèse, belonging to permanent collections of museums such as the Kunsthaus Zürich, the Musée d’art et d’histoire in Geneva or the Beyeler Foundation in Basel. The Foundation has also supported several programmes of cultural mediation promoting access to works and to the various trades of restoration to the general public. Today, an important part of the Foundation’s activities is the support, encouragement and appreciation of young artists and emerging talents, as for example though its commitment alongside HEAD-Genève to the New Heads – BNP Paribas Foundation Art Awards.
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HEAD – Genève
HEAD – Genève, Haute école d’art et de design, which celebrates its 10th anniversary, has become one of the most important art schools in Europe. Its five departments provide Bachelor and Master degree programmes of high quality in Visual Arts, Visual Communication, Interior Design, Film and Fashion as well as an Art and Design PhD programme in partnership with the EPFL in Lausanne.
Its teachers and speakers, well-known Swiss or international figures, are the pride of the school which, thanks to them, can provide innovative and diversified educational curriculum focused on the students’ work.
A programme of conferences (the Talking Heads), exhibitions (LiveInYourHead), a Summer Academy at the Swiss Institute in Rome, a residence for artists in Marfa (Texas) and many partnerships with national, international, Swiss-French cultural institutions, serve as an opportunity to introduce the school in a large network of artistic partnerships.
The famous alumnis from HEAD – Genève include Jimmie Durham, John M Armleder, Silvia Bächli, Christian Marclay, Francis Baudevin, Emmanuelle Antille, Shahryar Nashat, Pauline Boudry, Emilie Ding, Sonia Kacem, Marta Riniker-Radich, Anne le Troter, Ramaya Tegegne, Pierre Vadi…
