- Each year, the BMW ART MAKERS programme supports an artist-curator
duo in the creation of an experimental project in the visual arts. - Eva Nielsen and Marianne Derrien, the 2023 winners, present their
project INSOLARE. - Eva Nielsen was selected by Fiona Rogers, curator of the Elles x
Paris Photo programme, launched by the French Ministry of Culture to
promote women photographers. - BMW France, a partner of Paris Photo and the VIP programme for the
21st year, is providing the Fair with a fleet of electric cars to
transport its guests. - With an exhibition exploring the impact of human activity on
landscapes and a recyclable scenography, the BMW ART MAKERS
programme goes even further in taking into account the impact of the
territory, in line with BMW Group’s environmental and circular strategy.
Paris. For half a century, BMW Group has been a major
patron of culture, supporting hundreds of projects around the world.
The Group contributes to the diffusion of knowledge and the arts
through long-term partnerships such as the one forged two decades ago
with Paris Photo. BMW France supports the VIP programme and provides
Paris Photo with a fleet of electric cars to transport collectors,
artists, curators and fair VIPs. Each year, the BMW ART MAKERS
programme supports an artistic project and produces an exhibition
conceived by a duo of artist and curator.
INSOLARE, the exhibition presented by the BMW ART MAKERS
winning duo.
The INSOLARE project is a new experiment,
the fruit of collaboration between Eva Nielsen, artist, and Marianne
Derrien, curator, and was conceived especially for the Rencontres
d’Arles and Paris Photo, of which BMW is an official partner. Their
approach, which is both poetic and scientific, questions time and the
sedimentation of the urban and Camargue landscape. With this project,
the duo evoke the changes in the environment that are leading to the
disappearance of certain urban, industrial and natural landscapes,
where the human footprint is always in question.
Eva Nielsen has taken up the subject of geographical
and geological change, a subject that few women have echoed. The
winning artist made several trips to the Camargue, where she took
hundreds of photographs. These images were printed on curtains and
transparent paper and then photographed again, superimposed on new
samples taken in the Camargue. Thanks to this process and the use of
different materials and media – photography, silkscreen, painting,
veils and fabrics – the images are superimposed and hybridised,
resulting in a form of transfiguration. Like a topographer, the
Franco-Danish artist defines her work as a ‘state of awareness’ of the
reality of a territory, its architecture and its environment. With
INSOLARE, the works change, like the urban and industrial landscape of
the Camargue.
Marianne Derrien, the winning curator, explains that
in INSOLARE, Eva Nielsen explores climatic and geological phenomena
that reappear as spectres of both rural and industrial reality. She
crosses her roadtrip trajectories with those of the territories at the
gateway to Arles, where the Camargue begins. In a visual confusion,
the artist creates a play of resonances between photography,
silkscreen and painting. Contrary to any official cartography, the
paths she takes trace a subjective geography. The sedimentation of
these solar and liquid landscapes gives rise to a horizon of
experience, a feminine gaze where body and water are linked. Eva
Nielsen and Marianne Derrien have designed a scenography that
minimises the impact of their project on the environment.
Reusable and recyclable scenography
The
scenography has been designed to respond to environmental and cultural
heritage preservation issues. In line with BMW Group’s circular
strategy, the exhibition has been designed to ensure that materials
are produced and used as sparingly as possible. Self-supporting metal
structures have replaced the traditional picture rails. They were
designed to be reused after the Rencontres d’Arles, at Paris Photo for
this November’s edition.
“The BMW ART MAKERS programme reflects BMW Group’s commitment to
culture and society. From the concept to the final exhibition, the
INSOLARE project interweaves territory and ecology with a feminine
perspective, presenting an original vision of the Camargue. With its
reusable scenography, the project also echoes the BMW Group’s
environmental and circular strategy”, comments Maryse
Bataillard, Head of Corporate Communications and CSR BMW Group France.
For Florence Bourgeois, Director of Paris Photo,
“our 21-year partnership with BMW testifies to the strength of
our commitment to artists. The strength of the BMW ART MAKERS
sponsorship programme and the visibility offered to an artist-curator
duo each year is a remarkable support for creativity. We are proud to
welcome the INSOLARE project by Eva Nielsen and Marianne Derrien to
the 26th edition of Paris Photo, at the Grand Palais Ephémère from 9
to 12 November 2023.”
More information is available at BMW (parisphoto.com)
Since 2022, BMW Group France has also been an official partner of the
Cannes Film Festival and Paris + by Art Basel.
The BMW Group’s Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and
deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on
Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.
