The starting point for this project is the context of le Crédac itself. The corridors, staircases, recesses, changes in direction and levels form a rather disconcerting labyrinth. These passages lead into rooms of generous proportions but with partially sloping floors which also perturb one’s physical sensations. None of these spaces possess a window. One is therefore cut off from the world. Le Crédac may be perceived like a hollow island.
However, the art center is located in an urban fabric of such density that the hectic life of the city remains mentally present when one is inside. It is around this double notion - isolation and the relationship with elsewhere - that we have asked five artists to put together the Expériences insulaires project. Each of these artists, either in his or her work generally, or with one particular piece of work, provides a remarkable point of view on these notions. The Chapuisat brothers who build a gigantic and mysterious structure suspended from the ceiling, Simon Faithfull who plunges us into his maritime expedition to Antarctica, Hoio who proposes to discover the distant Santa Lemusa and its culinary specialties, Peter Regli who presents the island he had built on a lake in central Switzerland and Thu Van Tran who creates a wooden boat evoking imaginary journeys.

The exhibition is composed mainly of new works. A video programme presented during a special evening event provides a fresh view of the theme of insularity.

Jean-Paul Felley & Olivier Kaeser, directors of Attitudes, Geneva