Exhibition views of À corps défendant
, 2021
Photos © Aurélien Mole
À corps défendant
Karim Kal and Nengi Omuku’s exhibition
18 Sept. — 11 Dec. 2021
This exhibition elicits interaction between the work and explorations of two artists who do not know each other, but whose fields of interest can set up mutual echoes. In this case, the colourfully crowded canvases of Nengi Omuku (born in 1987, lives and works in Lagos) responding to the disembodied, quasi-abstract photographic images of Karim Kal (born in 1977, lives and works in Lyon and Algiers). Both question the way bodies strive to get free of normative frameworks, whether social, architectural or political.
Influenced by a certain politics of the body and the complexities attaching to identity and difference, Nengi Omuku observes human beings positioning themselves and adapting to each other in space. Reacting to the recent lockdown restrictions, her latest paintings reflect her interest in the collective and in community life. Painted on sanyan, a traditional Nigerian cloth, her colourful portraits, set against dreamlike landscapes, seem to slide from anthropomorphic forms to vividly coloured surfaces, revealing in the process issues of gender, race and cultural heritage.
In its detachment from the lyricism of much of the documentary photography tradition, Karim Kal’s work is fuelled more by art history references – abstraction or minimalism, for example. Eminently political and poetic, his approach reflects a form of spatial coercion induced by a supposed structural-social ergonomics. The large areas of flat monochrome Karim Kal favours in his images are part of a deep-rooted critique of the dominant influence of architecture on our habits, in a built environment he considers a cultural and ideological marker. With his nocturnal urban landscapes, he draws the social and political outlines of these environments, as if framing black screens for the projection of countless stories.
This exhibition is supported by the ADAGP and the Copie privée.
Saturday 25 September 2021, 3pm
Guided tour of the exhibition with Nengi Omuku
Sunday 10 October 2021, 2pm – 6pm
Exceptional opening of the exhibition
3pm: Guided tour of the exhibition with Marc Bembekoff, curator and La Galerie director
Saturday 20 November 2021, 5pm
Guided tour of the exhibition with Karim Kal
Saturday 4 December 2021
Guided tour of the exhibition
Part of a TaxiTram excursion
TRAM, réseau art contemporain Paris / Île-de-France
+33 (0)1 53 34 64 43 / taxitram@tram-idf.fr
Saturday 11 December 2021, 4:30pm
Panel discussion with Karim Kal, Pascal Beausse (art critic, Head of photographic collection at Centre national des arts plastiques), Isabelle Renard (Head of collections and exhibitions at Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration)
The panel discussion has been recorded: webradio R-22 Tout-monde
Each Saturday, 2:30pm – 4pm (except for school holidays)
Free workshops, by registration: lagalerie.publics@noisylesec.fr
With artist Céline Drouin Laroche, participants explore a number of visual techniques connected to the exhibition.
“1, 2, 3 Prunelles” sessions (2×90 minutes + an excursion)
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“Le motif pour former un groupe” with artist Anna Ternon: painting of shapes and patterns from different fabrics onto Plexiglas.
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“Se positionner : des corps hantés” with artist Céline Drouin Laroche: creation of silhouettes with coloured inks.
Discovery sessions (2h)
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“Des histoires cachées dans le noir” with artist Anna Ternon: painting of a nocturnal urban landscape and invention of short stories.
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“Une fenêtre à soi” with artist Céline Drouin Laroche: creation of imaginary landscapes on La Galerie’s windows.
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“De l’intérieur à l’extérieur” with artist Céline Drouin Laroche: creation of silhouettes with coloured pencils.
- “Des/équilibres du corps” projet
- Conceived by Céline Drouin Laroche (artist, La Galerie)
- Audience: a CP class and a CE1 class from école Lerenard, and a CE1 class from école Quatremaire
- Duration: 2h
In parallel to the show Titi Tombe, Titi Tombe Pas by the Compagnie Pascal Rousseau (programmed at the Théâtre des Bergeries in December 2021), the students explore different positions, representations and ways to make the body disappear in the exhibition “À corps défendant”. Collectively, they experiment with the staging of bodies in balance and not, modelling figures in uncomfortable postures, precarious balances and close to collapse.
- “La fabrique des images” project
- Conceived by Anna Ternon (artist, La Galerie) and Cyril Pirali (head of multimedia service, Médiathèque Roger-Gouhier)
- Audience: a CM2 class from école Brossolette
- Duration: 6×90 minutes, over 3 weeks
Pupils design create silver halide photos (making of pinhole camera, shooting and printing in a darkroom) and experiment with digital editing software to transform their own images.
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