La Criée Centre d'Art Contemporain

Through a moving installation that includes industrial and blown glass, transparent images, coloured lights, ancient seeds and multilingual narratives, Euridice Zaituna Kala delves into the past of people and ecosystems - such as that of the fully covered Senne River in Brussels - that once thrived in urban areas. By attempting to establish new links between these contexts, she challenges the dominant vision of the city, which is purely growth-oriented.

On the occasion of the art center's 40th anniversary, La Criée is partnering with Rennes-based artists Léa Bénétou, Fanny Martel, and Yann Baïzid to create a new game called Rejouer La Criée. The game draws on the art center's archives, specifically a selection of 40 works produced by La Criée since 1986.

Having attended art school in his hometown of Winnipeg and been immersed in alternative popular cultures from the outset (notably through his involvement in rock bands and production of numerous fanzines), Marcel Dzama has been developing a prolific and joyful body of work since the late 1990s, in which drawing and film are central. A great admirer and connoisseur of early cinema, from which many of his films borrow elements such as black-and-white imagery and expressionist gestures, Marcel Dzama is, in a broader sense, curious about a variety of creative worlds: the surrealist spirit, early modernism, pop culture, illustration, underground music, etc. These references, whether recognisable or not, fuel a fantastical universe - immediately identifiable in itself - that is sometimes magical, sometimes cruel, sometimes poetic, sometimes political. The exhibition Le voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) features around fifteen films. During an hour-long programme devised by the artist, visitors can discover films from his youth, films shot on the spur of the moment, others featuring his son and father, and still others produced as commissions. Humour and inventiveness imbue this selection with the same energy. Marcel Dzama has also chosen to highlight two films, presented in two dedicated screening rooms: Une danse des bouffons (A Jester's Dance) (2013) and To live on the Moon (for Lorca) (2023). The first is inspired by the love story between Marcel Duchamp and sculptor Maria Martins, the second by the figures in the moon and poet Federico García Lorca. In parallel to the films, objects, sculptures, masks, drawings, models and storyboards are presented in the central space of the art centre. Whether it be costumes, pieces of scenery or sketchbooks taken directly from the films, or drawings created elsewhere, we find the same inspirations and the same humour in both colour and line. From pencil to lens, from poetry to politics, Dzama plays with the codes and history of burlesque and fantasy with the virtuosity of a tightrope walker. His works combine references and virtuoso pirouettes with a pleasure, freedom and joy that we trust will prove contagious.

La Criée invites visual artist, author, and illustrator Jérémy Piningre for a residency focused on research, creation, and transmission at Jacques Prévert Elementary School. The artist plans to involve first- and second-grade students in the creation of a new story, following on from his illustrated book Les Fruits et les Gumes, published by Éditions 2024. This new album will be titled Les appareils et les Ktronics (The Devices and the Ktronics) and has the following synopsis: The Gumes, who until now have lived self-sufficiently at Primeur Ponctuel, a small grocery store, will be forced to leave it to rescue one of their own. Will the outside world that frightened them so much in the first episode be as scary as they expected? Do all the monstrous creatures that they believe inhabit the outside world really exist? As their adventures unfold, they will find themselves confronted with other mini-worlds. They will meet the Ktronics people, set off on a quest for Scampettes powder, and, hopefully, rescue their friend from her predicament. In this futuristic story, Jérémy Piningre anchors his narrative in social and environmental issues. With this book, he aims to address questions of mutual aid between communities and the memory of colonized territories, shift perspectives, and bring cultural differences together. "All of this is done from a child's perspective, in a gentle and humorous way, without bypassing the subjects", he explains. For workshops with students, Jérémy Piningre envisions: -- collective research sessions using readings, -- songs and discussions to imagine the material that will be used to create mini-worlds, -- collecting stories and ideas to connect with what seems foreign. The cultural and linguistic diversity of the students will be a great asset in thinking about these issues. "By sticking to the principle of the Fruits et les Gumes drawings, where everything represented is conceived as small objects placed on top of each other, we could also imagine creating stackable modules to recreate drawings in a three-dimensional space while retaining the spirit of the illustrations. We could invite other artists to take the book out of its editorial context and find dance and song performances for it, as well as create large-scale set elements." The artist Aëla Maï Cabel, with whom Jeremy Piningre co-runs the micro-publishing house Cardon Luneux, will be involved in the project, creating fanzines.