ART GENEVE 2025″SUR-MESURE”
Curated by Nicolas Trembley
Reported by Nazli Kok Akbas
NKA Art Reports
Switzerland-France-Istanbul
Paul McCarthy ,White Snow Dwarf, Grumpy,2016 (Hauser & Wirth Gallery)
The first edition of Sur-Mesure, the “Tailor-Made” section of Art Geneve, was inaugurated in 2024 and the curatorship was entrusted to Nicolas Trembley, who chose the theme “fun fair” for the 12th edition of the exhibition, which was very colourful and playful.
Oli Epp, artgeneve/surmesure,Palexpo,Geneva,2024
“Fun Fair” was based on five monumental works. With its immense tentacles covered in shimmering fabric,a strange creature that seems to be part spider, part octopus towers over the space in the half light. Multicoloured embroidery, curtains of yellow fringes, pompoms… it was a textile monster whose beauty was as sovereign as it was nasty.
Joana Vasconcelos ,Valkyrie Mumbet,2024
Joana Vasconcelos work called “Valkyrie Mumbet” was a celebration of freedom, but also the celebration of women’s craftsmanship. The work was loaned to the exibition by Gowen Gallery, Geneva.
Seventeen meters wide, nine meters hight and weighting 880 kilos, it was undoubtedly the most remarkable piece of the Art Geneve 2024.
Paul McCarthy ,White Snow Dwarf, Grumpy,2016 (Hauser & Wirth Gallery)
The American Paul McCarthy was immortalised in bronze the portrait of Grumpy, one of Snow White’s seven dwarfs.When you approach its familiar figure,it was shocking to see him as he had been hit by a bomb.
Another Geneva gallery was the Xippas Gallery presented with an installation by American artist Blair Thurman. The artist is facinated by the world of cars and popular culture, created a wall of colourful abstract canvases and a bagy decorated with parasols intitled “Mexico set” and “Obut (Indiana)”. This 12 meter long wall evokes the curve of the racetrack completed by the car .
Blair Thurman, “Mexico set “and “Obut (Indiana)” Xippas Gallery.
Nicolas Trembley
Nicolas Trembley, the curator of Art Geneve Sur-Mesure, 2024 and equally 2025 , was born in Geneva, he is an art critic and curator who has organized a number of exhibitions on ceramics, particularly on the Mingei movement and more generally on all forms of craft.
“FOOD”
The curator, Nicolas Trembley, has selected six video works on the theme of the food which will be projected in a loop on six individual walls in forming of a hexagone.
The selection offers a range of artistic perspectives, beginning with Gordon Matta-Clark’s historic footage documenting FOOD, the restaurant he co-founded in 1971 New York, which gives the programme its title.
In the same vein, Jasmin Gregory’s 2024 performance in the Zurich grocery store explores the themes of consumer culture and social inequality.
In Paul McCarthy’s 1974 video “Heinz Ketchup Sauce” or Pilar Albarracin’s 1999 “Tortilla a la espagnola” explore the political aspects of relation between food and the body.
Finally Betty Bossy’s course by Christopher Williams explores the cultural construction and mediatisation of food through humour. And the giant sculpture of a ladle and spoon by David Nash completes the installation.
Reported by Nazli Kok Akbas.
