The Experience Pommery #11 celebrates the 30th anniversary of the FRAC Champagne-Ardenne. The organisation of the exhibition has been entrusted to Florence Derieux, its director since 2008. She worked in collaboration with Matali Crasset, a designer and the President of the FRAC since 2012, who designed the entire scenography free of charge. Une Odyssée : les 30 ans du FRAC Champagne-Ardenne is based, on the one hand, on the presentation of 30 masterpieces from its extraordinary collection in previously unseen areas of the Pommery Estate. On the other, it is a spectacular tour of works in the magnificent and mysterious cellars laid out by Madame Pommery at the end of the 19th century using the ancient Gallo-Roman chalk quarries. In addition to this is the chance to rediscover a monumental work by the famous American artist Chris Burden, which has been restored thanks to the generosity of the Vranken-Pommery Group.
Drawing its inspiration from this extraordinary site and the celebrated apogee of Ancient Greece, An Odyssey is an account of a journey with many amazing adventures along the way, told by various different voices. Illustrating different points of view and offering various interpretations, the exhibition thus reflects thirty years of a shared adventure instigated by a host of people who, individually and together, wrote the story of this unique institution. Thirty years of art, research, production, experimentation, discussion, collaboration, experiences, et cetera. An Odyssey illustrates a path both taken and yet to explore, to find or rediscover oneself. For example, the exhibition pays a great tribute to Raymond Hains, a major artist and symbolic figurehead of the FRAC Champagne-Ardenne. It also commemorates his founding exhibition Paris/Pâris organised by Catherine Bompuis at the Centre d’Art Passages in Troyes in 1987. Chris Burden’s immense model reproducing the vine-clad landscapes of the Champagne region is also presented here for the very first time since it was made in 1995 in Reims, at Nathalie Ergino’s request. In all, there are almost one hundred works to discover or rediscover during this odyssey.
Finally, a project developed by the graphic design studio Gavillet & Rust around the collection of the FRAC Champagne-Ardenne is presented in the form of posters in the City of Reims’ public space, of flags at the entrance of Pommery domain, and in JCDecaux panels in the Champagne cellars. It derives from their project conceived as part of the national manifestation for the 30th anniversary of all the FRAC and exhibited at Les Abattoirs – Musée d’art moderne et contemporain de Toulouse.
The artists : Robert Adams, Saâdane Afif, Francesco Arena, Charles Atlas, Sylvie Auvray, Davide Balula, Dara Birnbaum, Anna Blessmann & Peter Saville, John Bock, Nicolas Boulard, Chris Burden, Tom Burr, Stéphane Calais, Pier-Paolo Calzolari, Mircea Cantor, Antoine Catala, Guy de Cointet, John Coplans, Andrew Dadson, Danica Dakic, Plamen Dejanoff, Marcelline Delbecq, Jeremy Deller & Alan Kane, Erik Dietman, Willie Doherty, Jimmie Durham, Eric Duyckaerts, Latifa Echakhch, Ruth Ewan, Robert Filliou, Cyprien Gaillard, General Idea, Dan Graham, Rodney Graham, Raymond Hains, Sharon Hayes, Lothar Hempel, Pierre Huyghe, Alain Jacquet, Pierre Joseph, Jesper Just, Barbara Kasten, Yuri Leiderman, Glenn Ligon, Michel Majerus, Nicola Martini, Gustav Metzger, Matt Mullican, Cirpian Mureşan, Lisa Oppenheim, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Seth Price, Philippe Ramette, Lili Reynaud Dewar, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Uri Tzaig, Julia Wachtel, Emily Wardill, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, James Welling.
Exhibition realised with the support of JC Decaux – Lorraine-Champagne-Ardenne
