Edmund De Waal

Edmund de Waal, the ten thousand things, for John Cage, X, 2015, 3 porcelain vessels and Cor-Ten steel block in aluminum box, 17 11/16 x 17 11/16 x 7 1/2 inches, 45 x 45 x 19 cm © Edmund de Waal. Courtesy Gagosian. Photo: Mike Bruce

EDMUND DE WAAL

Lettres de Londres

Espace Muraille, Genève (Switzerland)

Exhibition from January 20th to April 15th, 2017

Exhibition curator: Laurence Dreyfus

The British artist Edmund de Waal will take over Espace Muraille, a singular and engaged exhibition space devoted to contemporary art, located in the heart of Geneva’s old town. Dreamt up by the collector and creator of Espace Muraille Caroline Freymond, the event has been orchestrated by Laurence Dreyfus, the exhibition curator, in collaboration with the artist and the Gagosian gallery.

Lettres de Londres is Edmund de Waal’s first exhibition in Switzerland. Named after a collection of essays written by the philosopher Voltaire, who spent his last years in Geneva, the exhibition will span the contemporary gallery spaces of Espace Muraille.

De Waal will show works that draw on musical influences, including a series of twelve black vitrines each containing two white vessels and named Eisenach after the town where J.S. Bach was born and in C, a large-scale work inspired by the minimalist compositions of Terry Riley. Various smaller works will also be shown - Canti, connoting the traditions of choral music, and three pieces from de Waal’s series, ten thousand things (for John Cage), each comprised of porcelain vessels and elements of Cor-Ten steel

A short catalogue will be produced to accompany the exhibition.

Edmund de Waal Lettres de Londres Espace Muraille, from January 20th to April 15th, 2017

Place des Casemates 5, 1204 Geneva Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 18:00 Saturdays from 11:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 18:00 Access: Bus no.3 or no.5 until the Athénée stop Free entry

Edmund de Waal, in C, 2015, 135 porcelain vessels in an aluminium and plexiglass vitrine, 43 11/16 x 66 15/16 x 5 5/16 inches, 111 x 170 x 13.5 cm © Edmund de Waal. Courtesy Gagosian. Photo: Mike Bruce

EDMUND DE WAAL

Edmund de Waal's art and literature speak to his enduring fascination with the nature of objects, and the narratives of their collection and display. A potter since childhood and an acclaimed writer, his obsession with porcelain or “white gold” has led to encounters with many people and places that help deepen his understanding of the nature of the material. De Waal is best known for his large scale installations of porcelain vessels, which have been exhibited in many museums around the world. Much of his recent work has been concerned with ideas of collecting and collections, and how objects are kept together, lost, stolen and dispersed. His work comes out of a dialogue between minimalism, architecture and sound, and is informed by his passion for literature.

Edmund de Waal was born in 1964 in Nottingham, England. He received his B.A. Honors in 1983 from the University of Cambridge, England, and received his Post–Graduate Diploma in 1992 from the University of Sheffield, England. De Waal completed his Senior Research Fellow in Ceramics in 2002 from the University of Westminster, London.

His work has been shown and collected by museums throughout the world, including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt; National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; and Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Recent solo museum exhibitions include “Ceramic Rooms,” Geffrye Museum, London (2001); New Art Centre, Roche Court, England (2004); “Arcanum,” National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff (2005); “Vessel, perhaps,” Millgate Museum, England (2006); Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, England (2007); “Signs & Wonders,” Victoria & Albert Museum, London (2009); “Night Work,” New Art Centre, Roche Courte, England (2010); “Edmund de Waal at Waddesdon,” Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, England (2012); “On White: Porcelain Stories from the Fitzwilliam,” University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, England (2013); “Another Hour,” Southwark Cathedral, London (2014); “Atmosphere,” Turner Contemporary, England (2014); “Lichtzwang,” Theseus Temple, organized by Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (2014); and “The lost and the found: work from Orkney,” New Art Centre, England (2015).

His acclaimed memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes was the winner of the Costa Biography Award and the RSL Ondaatje prize. In 2015 de Waal was awarded a prestigious Windham– Campbell prize for non–fiction by Yale University. His latest book The White Road: Journey into an Obsession was published in November of 2015.

De Waal currently lives and works in London.

ESPACE MURAILLE, a singular space devoted to contemporary art

Located in the old fortifications at the foot of Geneva’s old town, Espace Muraille is a creative, animated and open space devoted to international contemporary art. It was created by Caroline and Eric Freymond, a couple of passionate and engaged art collectors.

Temporary exhibitions, artists’ personal projects and works from a rich permanent collection succeed each other over two levels and 275 square metres. The project is situated in the foundations of an 18th century private hotel. This place charged with history was rethought and remodelled by MVT - a local architecture firm - in order to be turned over to contemporary art. A reinvention rather than a metamorphosis, aiming to preserve the magic of the old walls, which had long served as a cellar and were slumbering, forgotten, beneath layers of dust. According to Caroline Freymond, the creator and artistic director of Espace Muraille, the aim of the space is to “showcase contemporary artists and artisans as well as private collections, encouraging a rapprochement and dialogue between works; whether they have elements in common, or are diametrically opposed.” Concerts, conferences, debates, meetings between creators and other cultural activities also take place in order to foster dialogue and exchange. The space tends to favour artists’ personal projects which are imagined and carried out in situ.

Many projects have succeeded each other since the opening of the gallery in 2012, such as those conceived by the Parisian gallery owner Kamel Mennour - who gathered the artists François Morellet and Tadashi Kawamata for the “Carte Blanche” exhibition - or the Japanese plastic artist Yohei Nishimura and the pastellist Pierre Skira, who exhibited side by side around the theme of the book. The summer of 2015 saw an exhibition which aimed to create a dialogue between the works of Anish Kapoor and Olafur Eliasson. Large-scale solo shows have been devoted to artists such as the French Monique Frydman, the Iranian Shirazeh Houshiary, the Argentine Tomàs Saraceno as well as the American Sheila Hicks.

Caroline Freymond, creator and artistic director of Espace Muraille, was a former international lawyer. After this first career, Caroline Freymond dedicated herself to her passion for the art. More than 10 years ago, she created at the same time Espace Muraille in Geneva and the gallery Menus Plaisirs in Gstaad. Her accurate look and her sharp sensibility allowed her to spot new talents upstream to their consecration on the international market.

LAURENCE DREYFUS, exhibition curator

Laurence Dreyfus is an exhibition curator and advisor for the acquisition of works of art. She founded her company LDAC in 2000, which advises institutions, businesses and private collections in their approach to contemporary art. She travels the world all year round, searching for gems of contemporary art and modern masterpieces. She has curated several exhibitions in France and internationally, in such prestigious venues as the Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art for the Lyon Biennale, the Palais de Tokyo, and la maison rouge. She has also worked for the Lincoln Center in New York, the city of Geneva, the Caixa bank and the London art centre Parasol Unit. In 2015, she was selected as the exhibition curator for Espace Muraille in Geneva, where she put together U-Topie de la couleur by Monique Frydman, Matière et sensation : Anish Kapoor et Olafur Eliasson and Aérocène by Tomàs Saraceno, from November 17th, 2015 to February 13th, 2016.

Every year since 2006, Laurence Dreyfus has been invited to participate in the FIAC’s VIP programme, within the framework of the Chambres à part exhibition cycle. After more than 10 years of success in Paris, Laurence Dreyfus inaugurated the first American edition of Chambres à part, which took place during Art Basel Miami, from November 28th to December 3rd. The setting is as quirky as it is unprecedented: the exhibition happened in the heart of South Beach, in a 5-storey building renowned for having served as a backdrop in the legendary 1980s film Miami Vice.

Edmund de Waal, to begin again, 2015, 88 porcelain vessels in an aluminium and plexiglass vitrine 25 3/8 x 94 1/2 x 5 5/16 inches 64.4 x 240 x 13.5 cm © Edmund de Waal. Courtesy Gagosian. Photo: Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, everything you remember, I, 2016, 24 porcelain vessels, 1 Cor-Ten steel block, 6 graphite blocks and 5 tin boxes in an aluminium, wood and plexiglass vitrine. From the series everything you remember, I-III, 66 15/16 x 43 5/16 x 5 5/16 inches, 170 x 110 x 13.5 cm © Edmund de Waal. Courtesy Gagosian. Photo: Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, micromegas, XII, 2016, 1 porcelain vessel and 9 pieces of lead in an aluminium and plexiglass vitrine; from the series micromegas, I-XIV, 3 3/8 x 10 5/8 x 3 1/8 inches, 8.5 x 27 x 8 cm © Edmund de Waal. Courtesy Gagosian. Photo: Mike Bruce

PRESS CONTACT: L’art en plus 11, rue du Bouquet de Longchamp 75116 Paris Phone: 01 45 53 62 74 www.lartenplus.com

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Additional information: www.espacemuraille.com www.saraceno.com www.laurencedreyfus.com [email protected]

Espace Muraille, Place des Casemates 5, 1204 Geneva T +41 22 310 42 92 F +41 22 310 42 93