Michel Ritter, Air Power Peace Power, Nicolas Brulhart (ed.)Sylvie Auvray, Machins Machines, coedition Archivorum×M and Editions MaculaSophie Hirsch, Frankie, coedition Archivorum×M and Verlag für moderne Kunst
On 30 January, the Centre d’Édition Contemporaine in Geneva welcomes Archivorum and Kunsthalle Friart for an evening presentation featuring two of Archivorum’s newest publications and the latest monograph edited by Kunsthalle Friart.
Archivorum marks the launch of two artist books produced within the Archivorum×M programme — Frankie by Sophie Hirsch, co-published by Verlag für moderne Kunst, and Machins Machines by Sylvie Auvray, co-published by Editions Macula.
In parallel, Nicolas Brulhart will introduce the new monograph Michel Ritter, Air Power Peace Power edited by Kunsthalle Friart and published by art&fiction.
Denis Savary presents two portraits of artists with whom he has been in dialogue for several years, John M Armleder and Giulia Essyad. These two video portraits and two original works resonate with the program of the Centre d’édition contemporaine, where both artists were invited to produce editions: John M Armleder in 1992 and 2024, and Giulia Essyad in 2022 and 2024.
These two portraits depart from the classical approach to the genre, which typically documents and analyzes the artist’s work or personality. Savary instead focuses on recurring and distinctive elements of each artist’s practice – practices that, at first glance, seem to oppose one another: plants for Armleder, and her own body for Essyad.
Savary sees these two productions as a continuation of Blood on the Dining-Room Floor, the video he presented during his 2024 exhibition Quiet Clubbing at the Centre d’édition contemporaine. In both Armleder’s and Essyad’s portraits, we find the recurring theme of confinement within transparent spaces that characterized that earlier video – a kind of return to the past, featuring a light show in the style of a “rural discotheque”, projected onto the walls of his childhood home, turned into a screen. For John M Armleder, Savary creates a botanical garden inside a car interior, which is then driven through a car wash. The transparency and gloss of the windows are heightened by beams of light, water, and foam cascading over the glass, giving the illusion of artificial aquatic plants – all in perfect harmony with the soundtrack of Hawaiian music selected by John M and Stéphane Armleder. In Giulia Essyad’s portrait, the artist’s face appears in the darkness of an indoor laser tag game. The beams of light transform her into an otherworldly being, illuminated by an intense blue reminiscent of the Bluebots – her doubles, small figurines that appear throughout her video works.
Like Blood on the Dining-Room Floor, these new projects explore both the medium and the structure of video itself. Car Wash becomes a kind of psychedelic aquarium, where the image of washing water is projected onto dry plants, evoking splashes – a recurring motif in Armleder’s work. The video Giulia is similarly structured around an effect of projected light: the laser tag environment alternately merges with and reflects off Essyad’s face. The artist, like a ghost trapped inside a television screen, reveals – through transparency – the space she seems to haunt.
Denis Savary, Car Wash, portrait de John M Armleder, video, color, 38’40’’. Sound: compilation of Hawaiian music by John M and Stéphane Armleder. Camera: Margot Sparkes. Editing: Nicolas Ponce. Vegetal Set Design: Stella Falcoz. Acknowledgements: Hélène de Ryckel, Daniel Mudrecki, Car Wash SWISSWASH, Plan-les-Ouates, John M Armleder and Lena Guevry. Produced by Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva, 2025Denis Savary, Giulia, portrait de Giulia Essyad, video, color, music, 03’48”. Camera: Margot Sparkes. Editing: Nicolas Ponce. Make-up: Morgane Gillioz. Acknowledgements: Giulia Essyad and Laser Game, Geneva. Produced by Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva, 2025
Denis Savary (1981) lives and works in Geneva. His work has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions, most recently: Nashville, Kunsthaus Centre d’art Bienne, KBCB (2025) ; Quiet Clubbing, Centre d’édition contemporaine, CEC, Genève (2024) ; Roma, Roma, Roma, Rolex Learning Center, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (2024) ; Josy’s Club, with Pierre-Olivier Arnaud, Synagogue de Delme (2023); Octogone, with Chloé Delarue, Mayday, Basel (2023); Flower of Fog, GNYP Gallery, Berlin (2022); Ambarabà Ciccì Coccò, with Alfredo Aceto, Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, St. Gallen (2021). Recent group shows include Frau in Blau. Oskar Kokoschka und Alma Mahler, Museum Folkwang, Essen (2025); Le MAMCO, de mémoire, MAMCO, Geneva (2024); Temps de Mars, Musée des Beaux-Arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds (2024); The Big Chill, Galerie Maria Bernheim, London (2023); Mirage, MCBA, Lausanne (2023); Deep Deep Down, MUDAM Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2023); The Puppet Show, Centre d’art contemporaine, Geneva (2022).
This project is supported by the Office fédéral de la culture et de la République et canton de Genève.
MY CRAFT. Before publication 11 is a conversation between Véronique Bacchetta and Nicolas Trembley, focusing on his curatorial practice and his growing interest in decorative arts, crafts and ceramics. In this conversation, Nicolas Trembley explains the history of the Japanese Mingei movement, on which he has organised five exhibitions, and its place in contemporary art. This conversation unfolds by examining the role of the exhibition curator; not only in terms of selecting, choosing and building coherent and meaningful collections of works of art and craft objects – sometimes even from everyday life – but also in terms of creating displays and organising the architecture of the exhibition space.
Nicolas Trembley, MY CRAFT. Entretien avec Véronique Bacchetta sur l’exposition, l’artisanat, l’art, les hiérarchies culturelles et les typologies, Before publication 11, brochure, 44 pages – single booklet, 17,2 × 23,5 cm, offset, stapled binding, 250 copies – published in the Before publication collection, which gathers the pre-publications of authors’ texts or artists’ inserts, which will appear regularly and as a preview before the final publication, L’Effet papillon II (second volume of L’Effet papillon, 1989 – 2007, catalogue of the Centre d’édition contemporaine published in 2008). Graphic design: Niels Wehrspann, Lausanne. Edition of the Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva, 2024.
Published by Claude Balls Int. in December 2022, Marseille Edited with Gianmaria Andreetta, Marie Angeletti and Camilla Wills 21 x 28.5 cm, 416 pages, edition of 840
6:30 pm: Conversation with Gianmaria Andreetta and Marie Angeletti
Contributions from : Nicole-Antonia Spagnola, Georgia Sagri, John Kelsey, Matthew Pang, Cathy Wilkes, Sarah Rapson, Nick Irvin, Gene Beery, Anne Dressen, Anne Pontégnie, Jacqueline Mesmaeker, Sara Deraedt, Anne Rorimer, Kari Rittenbach, Olga Balema, Maria Nordman, Louise Lawler, Julie Ault, Martin Beck, Adrian Morris, Matt Browning, John Miller, Envers Hadzijaj, Enzo Shalom, Bedros Yeretzian, Morag Keil, Helmut Draxler, Gianna Surangkanjanajai, Steve Cannon, Rae Armentrout, Zoe Hitzig, CIPM, Pierre Guyotat, Lola Sinreich, Fanny Howe, Georgia Sagri, Hélène Fauquet, Marie Angeletti, Richard Hawkins, Andy Robert, Alexander García Düttmann, Daniel Horn, El Hadji Sy, Henrik Olesen, Aurélien Potier, John Miller, Richard John Jones, Stéphane Barbier Bouvet, Nora Schultz, Peter Fend, Megan Francis Sullivan, Jill Johnston, Sturtevant, Tonio Kröner, Bernard Bazile, Pierre Bal-Blanc, Jérome Pantalacci, Gérard Traquandi, Gladys Clover, Maria Wutz, Jimmie Durham, Richard Sides, Camilla Wills, Michael Callies, Steven Warwick, Matthew Langan-Peck, Dan Graham, Nina Könnemann, Hans Christian Dany, Valérie Knoll, Win McCarthy, Eleanor Ivory Weber, Anna Rubin, Heji Shin, Michèle Graf & Selina Grüter, Inka Meißner, Simone Forti, Morgan O’Hara, Angharad Williams, Ye Xe, Lily Van Der Stokker, Yuki Kimura, Peter Wächtler, Eva Steinmetz, Michael Van den Abeele, Marc Kokopeli, Bradley Kronz, Robert Grosvenor, Samuel Jeffery, Charlotte Houette, Adam Martin, Wade Guyton, Chloe Truong-Jones.
« Guy would never have done that. » Debord Curator, Before publication 9, brochure, 44 pages – single booklet, 17,2 × 23,5 cm, offset, stapled binding – published in the Before publication collection, which gathers the pre-publications of authors’ texts or artists’ inserts, which will appear regularly and as a preview before the final publication, L’Effet papillon II (second volume of L’Effet papillon, 1989 – 2007, catalogue of the Centre d’édition contemporaine published in 2008). Graphic design: Niels Wehrspann, Lausanne. Edition of the Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva, 2022. ISBN: 978-2-9701369-7-2
Paul Bernard is director of Kunsthaus Pasquart, Biel/Bienne.
In 2018, the Musée d’art moderne et contemporain de Genève (MAMCO) presented Die Welt als Labyrinth, an exhibition devoted to the early years of the Situationist International (S.I) and the various movements it derived from. Conscious of the complexity of such a project, we began to work on it a year earlier, setting up a curatorial committee (composed of Lionel Bovier, Gérard Berréby, Julien Fronsacq, John M Armleder, Mai-Thu Perret, Swana Pilhatsch-Morenz and Luca Bochicchio) which enabled us to quickly get in touch with a network of specialists. For my part, I was able to travel to Paris, Albissola, Prato, Venice, Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Silkeborg in the space of a year to meet collectors, historians, curators and artists who were more or less directly related to the S.I. Nearly all of these meetings were fascinating, supportive and even downright enjoyable. But there were a few condescending grimaces from people who found our project to be deplorable. How indeed to conceive an exhibition about the Situationists without distorting the meaning of their action?
From the first paragraph of Paul Bernard’s text, “Guy would never have done that.” Debord Curator, Before publication 9, ed. CEC, 2022
Presentation of the edition offered to the members of the Centre d’édition contemporaine association for the year 2018
Thursday, January 17, 2019, 6 – 9 PM (Common openings of the Quartier des Bains)
Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, What to wear to a concert? Tips for concert outfits: wear your best punk jacket with the right patches! « A patch meant to be fixed to the back of your jacket depicting relevant cultural affiliations »
Silkscreen print on raw cotton, 36 × 48 cm, safety pins, postcard, 150 copies, edition of the Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva, 2019. Edition offered to the members of the Centre d’édition contemporaine association for the year 2018.
Opening on Thursday, January 12, 2012, from 6 to 8 pm
Oscar Tuazon talks to Giovanni Carmine, at 6.30 pm
Reading by American poet Cedar Sigo, at 7.15 pm
Exhibition from January 13 to February 18, 2012
Oscar Tuazon, Working Drawing
Book published by the Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva
c/o Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich
Oscar Tuazon, Working Drawing
Book, reproduction of 210 drawings and a text by Oscar Tuazon, 19 x 23 cm, 256 pages, black photocopy, on Condat matt Périgord, cover in clear glass, covered in linen cloth, Texlibris GTI, colour: steel 564, square spine, sewn and glued, wrapped in a sheet of ribbed Pop’Set Perle, edition of 130, numbered and signed on the colophon inserted at the end of the book. Original drawings are included in the first 20 copies, starting from page 229. In addition, 20 A.P. signed and numbered from I to XX, have been printed. Binding and assemblage are the work of the atelier Philippe Martial, Paris. Designed by Pierre-François Letué, Paris, for the artist. Printed by Tracts, Paris.
This book is published by the Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva, January 2012.
Book Launch of Working Drawing
On the occasion of Oscar Tuazon’s exhibition, Manual Labor
at the Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich.
Philippe Decrauzat, Trois films photographiés – A Change of Speed, a Change of Style, a Change of Scene – After Birds – Screen O Scope
Discussion around the book with Philippe Decrauzat and Véronique Bacchetta, director of the CEC
and presentation of a selection of editions of the Centre d’édition contemporaine, with the artists’ books of Sigurdur Arni Sigurdsson, Thomas Hirschhorn, Elke Krystufek, Monica Bonvicini, Jakob Kolding, Roman Ondák, Mads Ranch Kornum, Céline Duval, Katie Holten, Josef Strau, Christophe Rey, Erik van Lieshout; the catalogues Marcel Broodthaers, l’oeuvre graphique, essais; L’Effet papillon 1989-2007; Sgrafo vs Fat Lava and the multiples of François Curlet and of Pierre Bismuth Continue reading “Philippe Decrauzat Book Launch c/o Motto Zürich”
Book, French, bound, 105 x 165 mm, 64 pages, 22 colour pictures. Summary : Nicolas Trembley (ed.), Madeleine de Proust et Fat Lava (introduction); text by Horst Makus, Formes, couleurs et décors. Un survol; Interview of Ronan Bouroullec by Nicolas Trembley. Graphic design : Gavillet & Rust / Eigenheer, Geneva. Publisher : JRP|Ringier (Hapax collection), Zurich, 2011. ISBN 978-3-03764-163-7.
Something Less, Something More – DIY
Triple groove corrugated cardboard plate with seven pre-cut discs, 37 x 50 cm, a metal stick and instructions for use, offset, black and one colour, front and back, French/English, 74 x 50 cm, on Keaykolour nature quartz mat 150g/m2 paper, folded in two, all elements in a coloured plastic envelope (green, blue, yellow or clear) closed by a folded cardboard as colophon, digital print, one colour, 180 copies, edition of the Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva, 2009.
January 23, 2009, at 8pm
Section 7 Books bookshop presented by castillo/corrales, rue Rébeval 65, 75019 Paris
L’Effet papillon, 1989-2007
On the occasion of the presentation of L’Effet papillon, 1989-2007, Véronique Bacchetta (director of CEC) will read the chapter « Marketing as social project » from Philippe Cuenat’s text A Fifty-cent Item: Maciunas’ marketing of Fluxus published in this book.
and Benjamin Valenza (born in 1980 in Marseille, lives and works in Lausanne) will give a lecture of the poem Maintenant c’est après le succès les temps changent/Now he following the success of changing times, freely inspired by Ms Leokadija Maciunas’ comments about the commercial initiatives of her son (see Philippe Cuenat, A Fifty-cent Item: Maciunas’ marketing of Fluxus). Benjamin Valenza will play his sculpture Don Quixote’s hip (2009, painted brass and aluminium, 100 x 35 cm).
Zone papillons (Butterflies Area)
Two readings and two anthologies/panoramas in French, in the frame of the fair BucH.08, and a presentation of the Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva, in Basel: L’Effet papillon, 1989-2007, Centre d’édition contemporaine, Geneva, 2008, presented by Véronique Bacchetta and her guest, Philippe Cuenat
« This publication retraces through its archives the history and evolution of a particular place – the Centre d’édition contemporaine –, its productions and artistic choices. It defines its place, its position and engagement in the field of contemporary art. » Véronique Bacchetta, director of the CEC, Meret Oppenheim Prize 2007. Continue reading “Presentation of L’Effet papillon, 1989-2007 at Maison de la poésie, Basel”
Alexandre Bianchini – Huber Mean, Version # 1, 1994
Presentation of the edition offered to the members of 1994 of the Centre, Version #1 (performance, music, decor andbar)
Alexandre Bianchini – Huber Mean, Vinyl, Version # 1, 12’’ maxi record, A and B side, sound mixing of a text and of various styles of music (jazz and acid jazz), edition of 300. Edition of the Centre genevois de gravure contemporaine, Geneva, 1994.
Edition offered to the members of 1994 of the Centre genevois de gravure contemporaine association.
Fernseh und Videogalerie, 1993″ width=”1000″ height=”708″> Gerry Schum, Fernseh und Videogalerie, 1993
Presentation offilms shot byGerrySchumunderitsFernsehundVideogalerie. In collaboration withSimonLamunière, artist and curator, Geneva.
GerrySchumhas madeseveral series offilms as partof its projectFernsehGallery/Television Gallery, which aimed tocreate links betweenthe confined spaceof theartgalleryand television. From1969,GerrySchumshotseveral short films withmajor artistsaffiliated toLand Art, to Arte Poveraor toconceptual art.These films arenot documentaries onthe work of theseartists, butautonomous works. (Véronique Bacchetta, extract from thepress release)
