The Elephant in the Room, June 2 to 10
IESA arts&culture and its students organized the event "Elephant in the Room", which took place from June 2 to 10, 2022 on campus.
This hybrid project, proposed by students of the Bachelor in Arts Management, premaster, MBA in Arts & Luxury Management, Contemporary Arts, and Performing Arts, aims to highlight the place of art and artists in a context of crisis. When the political, social, economic, ecological, or health situation is unstable, art no longer appears to be an essential need. Yet is art not the best way to open or maintain dialogue when current events leave us immobilized?
The event began on June 2 with a round table on the topic "Arts x Politics: How the Artworld faces the Elephant in the Room?", moderated by Jeanne Mathas and Fidan Aliyeva, students in the MBA in Contemporary Arts.
The Ukrainian artist Roman Minin, Anne Bessette, PhD in sociology of the arts, and Fabienne Bideaud, exhibition curator and art critic, took part in this round table.
Afterward, we were able to enjoy the exhibition " Elephant in the Room" at the opening held in the IESA arts&culture gallery.
This exhibition allowed the discovery of works by, among others, Emilio Chapela (1980), a Mexican artist based in Berlin, David Shrigley (1968), an English artist, Roman Minin (1981), a Ukrainian artist, Marie Orensanz (1936), an Argentine artist, and Melanie Smith (1965), a British artist. A rich selection, made possible by loans from our partner galleries and institutions.
Elephant in the Room is also a fundraiser for a scholarship. Indeed, the event marks the creation by IESA arts&culture of a scholarship dedicated to students from countries at war, enabling them to access higher education and continue their studies in the art professions.
Thanks to the generosity of numerous artists who donated works or merchandise, a sale and fundraising appeal organized by the students will raise funds to support students who would suffer the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine this year.
