Through his practice, Emmanuel Simon challenges the constituent notions of the visual arts vocabulary – particularly the notions of “work of art” and “author”. By immersing himself in the contexts in which he is invited to work, he applies himself to thwarting the milieu’s customary practices: he turns solo exhibitions into collective invitations (to both professional and amateur artists), favours a practice based on process, and lets his personal work dissolve into a more collective dynamic.
From painting – a medium he has worked with since he was a student – spring other forms that relate to it in more or less manifest ways: wall painting (stemming from the artist’s disuse of the canvas and mount), publishing (more likely to recapture the dynamics of collective work), sculpture or installation (making for closer ties with the work’s physical context).
The multiple forms of collaboration that take place within the short-lived collectives that grow out of each project are reflected in the diversified documentation of these processes: email correspondence, notes, sketches, meetings, amid which the exhibition is but one of the steps in the collaborative work, rather than its definitive and immutable outcome.
Once again, the unpredictable and precarious nature of the creations that come out of these experiments questions the work of art’s status and offers a broader, plural and demystified interpretation of it.

Translated by Lucy Pons, 2022

Texts

In collaboration with:

Romain Ruiz-Pacouret
Armelle de Sainte-Marie
Charuwan Noprumpha
Thomas Bernardet
Lisa Tararbit
Marie Zawieja
Mélanie Lefebvre
Rébecca Konforti
Corentin Massaux
Collectif Implémentation
Florent Masante
François Lefèvre
Elise Fahey
Elise de Castelbajac
Claire Colin-Collin
Lucie Vanesse
Damien Caccia
Kévin Cadinot
Melody Raulin
Colombe Marcasiano
Audrey Perzo
Sépànd Danesh
Laure Catugier
Charlie Aubry
Antoine Medes
Laura Pouppeville
Leïla Saunier
Anna Buno
Florence Bazin
Galerie Rezeda
David Gommez
David Leleu
Michael Lilin
Sylvie Quillet
Corine Caulier
Léa Devenelle
Gilles Elie
Mélissa Godbille
Lucie Herlemont
Marion Lebbe
Philippe Lipka
Elisa Masson
Manon Thirriot
Côme Calmettes
Léa Vessot
Lori Marsala
Flora Moscovici
Socheata Aing
Valérie du Chéné
Hsing-Fu Chung
Aurore Clavier
Thibault Gaudry
Naomi Henry
Anne Jourdain
Romane Laillet
Charlie Raingeard
Diane Réa
Aria Rolland
Hervé Sénant
Alizée Trincat
Alexis Chrun
Amanda Fort
Mathilde Marquant
Catherine Martin
Georges Prat
Florent Barthe
Morgane Bertrande
Ekaterina Bunits
Manon Crison-Carle
Sabine Croué
Morvan Le Bihan
Eva Nurse
Ophélie Moinet
Gaëtan Vuillerme
Laura Rives
Margot Pietri
Frauke Boggash
Alessandra Carosi
Hugo Hemmi
Yannos Majestikos
Émilie Moutsis
Orakle Ngoy
Néféli Papadimouli
Gethcé Pierre
Benoit Piéron
Jules Romain
Caroline Sebilleau
sabrina soyer
Laure Vigna
Antoine Bricaud
Simon Capelle
Anthony Charreau
Eric Flogny
Alix Gastineau
Mélodie Lasselin
Leila Pereira
Théo Romain
Stéphani Hab
Lenche Andonova
Chloé Erb
Alexis Machet
Manuel Pomar
Katharina Schmidt
Lucie Laflorentie
Célia Picard
Hannes Schreckensberger
Amalia Laurent
Caroline Sebilleau
Benoît Brient