To celebrate its 15th anniversary, COAL, the leading non-profit organisation for art and ecology, is joining forces with the Gaîté Lyrique. Together, they are presenting a major multidisciplinary exhibition featuring almost 50 artists representing the rich and varied approaches of the ecological art scene.
This monumental exhibition, supplemented by a wide-ranging programme, is investing the emblematic space of the Gaîté Lyrique under the curatorship of Lauranne Germond, co-founder and director of COAL, and Sara Dufour, curator and programme director of the organisation. The exhibition brings together the work and contributions of close to fifty French, European and international artists, both established and emerging, with parity in men and women, including Ackroyd & Harvey, Maria Thereza Alves, Art Orienté Objet, Brandon Ballengée, Thierry Boutonnier, Alex Cecchetti, Julian Charrière, Paul Duncombe, Fabiana Ex-Souza, Sara Favriau, Feipel & Bechameil, Beya Gille Gacha, Marina Gioti, Shaun Gladwell, Noémie Goudal, Elsa Guillaume, Louis Guillaume, Hehe, Suzanne Husky, Hypercomf, Martin Le Chevallier, Sandra Lorenzi, Angelika Markul, Le Nouveau Ministère de l’Agriculture, Lucy+Jorge Orta, Stéfane Perraud and Aram Kebabdjian, Clément Richem, Belen Rodriguez, Stéphanie Sagot, Erik Samakh, Linda Sanchez, Momoko Seto, Stefan Shankland, Shivay La Multiple, Laurent Tixador and Julia Hanadi Al Abed, Anaïs Tondeur, Marie Velardi, Michael Wang and many more…
Together, they retrace the community of imaginations that has grown over 15 editions of the COAL Prize, COAL's flagship initiative for promoting, supporting and disseminating artists around the world who bear witness to, imagine and experiment the ecological revolution. 15 years ago, it was no straightforward matter to bring art and ecology together, nor to have nature conservation stakeholders collaborate with cultural players and artists. Now, 15 years on, exacerbated by the acceleration of environmental issues, which has encouraged fundamental reflection on ways to restructure and inhabit planet Earth, this connection has become a necessity. This exhibition presents an overview of a generation of committed artists, through projects that have left a mark on environmental art history. And more broadly, projects representing a range of practices and ways of approaching the living world through art and sensitivity, from witnessing to activism, via community-building and resilience practices.
These works reflect a wide variety of artistic approaches - sculpture, painting, photography, installation, performance, documents - but also, and above all, participatory projects, protocols, rituals, somatic practices, research-creation, in situ creation, shared experiences... Works, performances and activations tell the story of a different relationship to nature, to materials, and to all the components of living beings. They invite us to glimpse the perspectives of a future world, through an experience marked by discovery and awakening.
Associated programming:
Three key events bring together artists and thinkers on ecology for the COALITION exhibition.
Earth Day
with the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles
Sat. 27.04, from 5pm
In partnership with the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles for the closing of the Nova X Biennial, COAL is organising a day of performances and encounters within the exhibition on the occasion of Earth Day. Earth Day is an annual global event supported by civil society, where a number of events in support of environmental protection are organised and coordinated by the Earth Day Network. Organised for the first time on 22 April 1970, it now brings together 1 billion people in over 193 countries. This year's theme is "Planet against Plastics".
With Ateliers Médicis.
Marathon into the future for Museum Night
Sat. 18.05, from 6pm
For Museum Night, COAL and the Gaîté Lyrique bring to you a day of performances and encounters within the exhibition on the theme of Biodiversity and Living Things.
If the future has a history, it is being written today. Scientists, thinkers, poets, novelists, artists, activists and conservationists will be taking the stage at the Gaîté Lyrique to share their visions of the future. With a diversity of approaches and practices, where artistic, intellectual and scientific perspectives meet and respond to each other, COAL offers a free, accessible and inclusive space for expression. Each participant has 15 minutes to present his or her ideas. From these multiple visions may emerge new roads or paths towards a reinvented, desirable and chosen world.
Carte blanche for a Nuit Blanche
Sat. 01.06
On the occasion of the COALITION exhibition, COAL is offering an intense cinematic experience in the 360° room at the Gaîté Lyrique, immersing viewers in movement, matter and life.
And also...
- Makesense events
- Off-site events: "Nature Festival" and the "filmakers’ rendez-vous".
- Youth events, with workshops for children every Saturday during the exhibition period
- The KIBLIND fresco: an exclusive "fresco-exhibition" on the wall of the "open participatory space" created by Camille Gobourg, illustrator, and Clément Vuillier, author and illustrator. For children, on the first floor of the Gaité Lyrique.
- Guided tours: for schools, two afternoons a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. For families and students, at weekends.
COAL
As the benchmark non-profit organisation for art and ecology, COAL is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2024. COAL mobilises artists and cultural players in a multi-disciplinary spirit to address cultural players on societal and environmental issues, in collaboration with a wide range of public and private stakeholders. More broadly, COAL supports the essential role of creation and culture in raising awareness and implementing concrete solutions. With over 100 international artists distinguished to date, the COAL Prize for Art and the Environment and the COAL Prize are flagship initiatives for identifying, promoting, supporting and disseminating artists around the world that bear witness to, imagine and experiment the ecological revolution. COAL is also at the root of close to one hundred contemporary art exhibitions, cultural events and regional programmes focusing on the ecological transition.
COAL also contributes to knowledge and dissemination of the issue through European cooperation schemes, the organisation of numerous conferences and workshops, publications, as well as a resource medium.
Photo : Lucy+JorgeOrta
