By Sabine Pierce Jones, Y12
EcoArt is an original project intended for those who are eager to learn about plastic arts, visual arts or art history, and for those who want to discover the professions linked within the world of art and exhibitions. Over a year, a curatorial team (or a group of students) meet once a month to discover the world of exhibitions in its complexity to then curate their own exhibition. They learn all the subtleties of this profession in different phases: preparation workshops, define the theme and curatorial intention, and lastly select artists and their work. Past exhibitions have consisted of themes such as: Evolution(s) in 2017-18, Graphein in 2018-19, and this year’s Architectonics 2019-2020. Each year, at the end of the process of taking initiative, creativity, teamwork, engagement and a critical eye and original exhibition is created at the centre des arts.
This year’s exhibition, Architectonics, held pieces from various artists such as; Alain Lapierre, Philippe Garenc, Anders Mikkelsen, Asmund Haavsteen Mikkelsen, Franz Ackerman, Gaspard Valérian, Sandra Bébié Valérian, François Daireaux, Nicolas Daubanes, Agnès Fornells, Jérôme Soudan, and last but not least Yan Zoritchak. The pieces all of which attributed to the theme the name “Architectonics” conveys, including; architectural design, musical structure, literary structure and artistic structure. I interviewed some of the students involved to see how their understanding of curation and art became more in depth over the Architectonics project:
Hollow Alder, #162 Gramis Calvus (Gramitrideae), and Sand Wrack, #462 Spheris Spatiis (Spheritridiae), by Anders Mikkelsen
“My favorite part of the experience was discussing piece by piece what we feel like would fit into our exhibition. I just had fun defending why I felt one piece of work was architecturally fitting, or why another piece wasn’t. This project was a rare experience, and I know that none of us would have been able to do something on this scale without Manuel’s connections and help. This process showed me how intertwined one must be with the art world to make something like this just happen. My favourite artist was Anders Mikkelsen, but he’s also a family friend so I might be biased.” – Montague Jacobs, Y12 student and co-curator
Rigo Saitta Collection, by Franz Ackerman
“My favorite part of this experience was the fact that every member of the group had the chance to put their own input into the exhibition. This experience was a huge chance for us to express ourselves and showcase our interest and knowledge of art all whilst adding our personal touch to things. My favorite artist to work with was Franz Ackerman. I particularly enjoyed this artist and his work due to the multitude of dimensions he puts forward with his works. I admire the multitude of messages he manages to highlight with making use of mixed media.” – Asya Aponte, Y12 student and co-curator
Tipping Point/ Spinning / The Hell, by Asmund Havsteen-Mikkelsen
“My favourite part of this experience was learning how to curate and set up an exhibition. I found that there was far more work that went into it than expected. To understand this process we visited many museums, galeries, and expositions around Geneva and anemass. This enriched my understanding of art and allowed me to appreciate it on another level. My favourite artist was Asmund Havsteen-Mikkelsen since I got to work with him in more depth than the others.” – Greta Ferrari, Y12 student and co-curator
I also had the opportunity to interview a student that graduated, but at his time at LGB was apart of the first Eco-Art exhibition, Evolution(s)
Floating Cities, by Benoît Billotte
“As a group we explored the art world in all its characteristics by: visits to museums/ galleries, being involved in workshops and meetings with artists/professionals, discussing and reflecting on art, etc… As cliché as it sounds I learnt to not only appreciate art, but realize that everything is art from urinals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_(Duchamp) to curation itself. My favourite artist to work with was Benoît Billotte because he actually answered our emails.” – Montague Pierce Jones, co-curator of Evolution(s) in 2017-18
Since COVID-19 restricted the exhibition, the in person tours could not be appreciated. However, this did not stop Fadat Manuel and his exceptional team. The exhibition was made into a fantastic virtual tour. The virtual tour for Centre des Arts has numerous options for the visitor to explore. Each tour was set up in a 360 visual, in which the “visitor” could explore the rooms as if they were walking through each of them. The exhibition has many different aspects and floors to it. Not only were there visuals to accompany the tour but guides (by the students), music, and interactive displays. This exceeded my expectations of how much effort and time was put into this exhibit. I highly recommend taking the tour to see the incredibly thoroughly constructed exhibition. I must also applaud Fadat Manuel on his efforts to make this tour as accommodating and accessible as possible during these trying times. I also congratulate the students involved on curating a beautiful display of the theme “Architectonics” and choice of artists on their successful presentation of ideas. If you’d like to visit the exhibition check out the link below!
