As part of the France–Colombia Year 2017, IESA arts&culture, international school for cultural professions and the art market, in association with the Cité internationale des arts and with the support of the Institut français, presents Attaches, an exhibition on the young Colombian art scene in Paris.
Our Students Share Their Experience
As assistant to the exhibition curator, Claire Luna, I worked closely with her, with the 21 artists in the exhibition, and with the galleries, institutions, and partners. I oversaw the coordination of production and cultural mediation. I put into practice knowledge acquired in courses on communication, project management, and cultural mediation. Theoretical learning is an essential foundation for getting a vague idea of reality, which is, in my view, far more interesting and enriching! Beyond all the knowledge and know-how I learned and put into practice, this experience showed me the importance of perseverance and tenacity. It is the richest and most complete experience I have been lucky enough to take part in so far.
- Philippine Bardi de Fourtou
Attaches taught me that nothing is ultimately insurmountable or impossible, and that all it takes is passion and being surrounded by equally stimulating people to create an exhibition of this scale from scratch.
- Kamar Triki
Getting involved in organizing and carrying out the Attaches exhibition was a powerful cultural experience and an important learning opportunity; this operation allowed me to build a close-knit team, to learn to listen to the artists and to negotiate with service providers in my role as production manager.
- Loup de la Rivière
Being hired on this team is a special experience for me: as a Chinese student working in France, I also carry within me this dual culture that I share with the artists of the exhibition. By taking part in this adventure, I was captivated by the discovery of the works and by the history of this country. I am proud to be part of the Attaches team.
- Lanyuexin Zhang
Working on the Attaches exhibition was an opportunity to get close to, and take part in, every cog of the creation and realization of an exhibition, in all its complexity, while discovering the richness and dynamism of a young art scene from another culture.
- Hadrien Frémont
IESA’s 2nd-year Master Contemporary Art and Master Heritage and Cultural Tourism students worked for a year on the implementation of Attaches, under the direction of exhibition curator Claire Luna. They confronted the reality of producing a cultural event by approaching it from every angle: exhibition curation, scenography, communication, sponsorship.
At the origin of the project, Grecia Caceres, a Peruvian author who heads the Latin America department of IESA arts&culture, expresses her desire as director to combine teaching, discovery of the world, and a full-scale project.
On view from December 7, 2017, to January 13, 2018, Attaches unfolds within the Cité internationale des arts, occupying its Gallery, its Corridor, and the Auditorium. Multidisciplinary, Attaches presents, in addition to visual arts, film, design, music, and illustration. Numerous events will accompany the exhibition: meetings, debates, roundtables, performances, and screenings of short and feature films.
The 21 artists presented were all born in the 80s, are Colombian, and live in Paris. Attaches draws on their shared experiences, namely exile and the melancholy inherent in being far away. The works shown here are themed around the fantasy of return and the bond with the homeland strengthened by distance. Expatriation allows these artists to take a certain distance from themselves; the experience of otherness makes them observe themselves as if the “I” were someone else.
The artists: Alexandra Arango, Ivàn Argote, Marcos Avila Forero, Chloé Belloc, Karen Paulina Biswell, Hilda Caicedo, Violeta Cruz & Léo Lescop, Raphaël Faon & Andres Salgado, Lilli Garcia Gomez, Carlos Gomez Salamanca, Laura Huertas Millan, Ana Maria Lozano Rivera, Julia Maria Lopez Mesa, Guillermo Moncayo, Daniel Otero Torres, Camilo Restrepo, Felipe Ribon, Camila Salame, Juan Soto, Ana Tamayo.
Set designer and artist Felipe Ribon succeeds, together with the students, in showing the works in a route that highlights nature and displacement. Approached both as an environment and as a symbolic element touching on the universal, nature is adored, cultivated, and disputed when it becomes territory; it refers to the history of Colombia in all its complexity.
Boris Grebille, director of IESA arts&culture, comments: “This exhibition is a project rich in meaning that brings together two of the school’s great values: the dialogue of cultures and the promotion of young creation.”