L’amitié : ce tremble
Friendship: That Shiver, That Aspen
La carte du salon de l’Amazone 1918 et 1938 est issue du livre Aventures de l’esprit de Natalie Clifford Barney, 1929 © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Image de la Bibliothèque Kandinsky.
Artists: Boris Achour (with Émilie Renard), Noémie Bablet, Caroline Bachmann, Anna Byskov (with Bertil Byskov, Margaret Byskov, Camila Farina and Sophie Lamm), Thomas Cap de Ville, Caretto & Spagna, Lola Gonzàlez, Donna Gottschalk, Tom Hallet, Eric Hattan (with Silvia Bächli, Rut Himmelsbach, Guido Nussbaum, Hannah Villiger and Anna Winteler), Dorothy Iannone and Sarah Pucci, Youri Johnson, Edit Oderbolz, Hatice Pinarbaşi (with Aram Abbas, Zahna Siham Benamor, Hugo Ferretto and Elif Pinarbaşi), Marthe Ramm Fortun, Marnie Slater (with Robin Brettar, Matilda Cobanli, Judith Geerts, Jessica Gysel, Katja Mater and Clare Noonan) and Sarah Tritz
Curatorship: CRAC Alsace and Crédac's team
The CRAC Alsace and Credac’s teams join their creativities to organize L’amitié : ce tremble (Friendship : that shiver, that aspen), an exhibition around friendship as creation’s driving force, deploys itself in both art centers.
At CRAC Alsace and Crédac, we are really motivated by sharing ideas, collaborating and pooling methods. One day, we brought to the table the Temple de l’Amitié (the temple of friendship), located at 20 rue Jacob in Paris and home to the American writer Natalie Clifford Barney from 1908 to 1972. This temple and its garden fascinate us. They hosted an influential literary salon, extravagant parties, lively discussions, torrid encounters and timeless friendships. We share these bonds of complicity with the artists and their pieces. Friendship provides our practices with a unique experience of art. Friendship constitutes a space for thinking, creating, entwining. Friendship leads us to push open doors: the doors to the garden of the Temple de l’Amitié.
Reading the poem Au Temple de l’Amitié by Natalie Clifford Barney, the words “Friendship : that shiver, that aspen” 1 resonate with us. Near to the aspen, we perceive bodies, laughter and friendships. These bodies capsize, laughter erupts, and the aspen shivers, meanwhile, a snail: “Like the shell of a snail, our friendship grows by a new ring each year.” 2 One more ring.
The consideration of friendship as a method more than a subject helps us shape this exhibition that will straddle our two art centers and be constructed collectively with the artists, their friends and draw on the energy that drives us resolutely. We thus give full rein to the plurality of voices among which we invite you to add yours.
Friendly regards,
The teams of CRAC Alsace and Crédac
The exhibition takes place from 18th February until 12 May 2024 at the Alsatian CRAC in Altkirch, and from 27 April until 13 July 2024 at Crédac in Ivry.
