Art critic, artistic director and curator, Gaël Charbau has been working for nearly 15 years with institutions, local authorities, patrons and companies, in Europe and Asia. Curator of the Emerige Bourse Révélations created in 2014 at the instigation of its Chairman Laurent Dumas, Gaël Charbau shares here his vision of his profession, as well as his commitment to the young French art scene.
"Our work is similar to that of a film director. Like in a film, we think about sequences, shots, points of view."
1. Are art directors and curators different professions in your opinion?
All the projects in which I am involved as an independent curator correspond to an artistic director's role, from the choice of artists, communication, elements of language, lighting and hanging to the operational implementation of the event. Unlike a curator attached to an institution and constrained by a certain number of elements, my projects often start from scratch. It's a question of thinking a project through from start to finish: what story to tell, how, with whom... From conception to organization, I build artistic direction around elements that all pass through my hands. In this sense, the term "artistic direction" corresponds faithfully to my activities, for which I surround myself with teams of different skills.
2. "Escape from a certain formalism, avoid making presentations illustrated by the images that are the works, reverse the approach: art must first be seen and experienced." Is this still your vision?
Indeed, an exhibition is not a demonstration or a presentation. It's an experience, a spatial narrative that plunges us into the heart of a three-dimensional visual proposition. Our work is similar to that of a film director. As in a film, we think in terms of sequences, shots and points of view. We also imagine the way in which a work of art will fit into a scene. As director, producer and scriptwriter, the artistic director also entrusts responsibilities to other players: cameraman, cinematographer, lighting technician, etc. In the context of an exhibition, all these elements pass through my hands, requiring both technical and artistic skills. Until now, for example, I've never used a set designer. For the Hermès exhibition "Formes du transfert", for example, I designed a system of Plexiglas partitions resting on frames to create pathways and play with different transparencies... When designing a project, I often work with Charles-Henri Fertin, who makes many of my scenographies "possible"! Every day, we have to be inventive and versatile.
View of the group exhibition "Formes du transfert", Magasins généraux, Pantin, 2022 © Origins Studio / Fondation d'entreprise Hermès
3. What is the specificity of an exhibition for a company?
Today, a company communicates like an institution, with similar tools and issues surrounding its image. Conceiving an artistic or cultural project for a company means collaborating with people who are convinced that art is an important vector, beyond being a simple communication tool. Unlike institutions, which by their very nature have an intrinsic and enduring relationship with art, a corporate art project depends above all on the convictions of one or more individuals. If Laurent Dumas' own life hadn't been transformed by his encounter with art, there would probably never have been a corporate sponsorship program at Emerige. That's what makes these projects so touching and human.
4. Do you see any emerging themes?
We hear a lot about the theme of care. I don't know if the function of art is to "take care of", but I can see that it's a trend. For my part, I'm interested in artists who try to produce art, which is already a job in its own right and can take up almost a lifetime...!
5. What interests you most about this job?
First and foremost, forms. Plastic artists ask themselves how they are going to create a form, visible or invisible - a rumor, a current of air, a piece of stone, drawing with ropes, with water vapor or pixels... The artist's problem is not to illustrate a point, but rather to have intuitions linked to forms, to materializations. So I'm not interested in any particular theme, but in the new situations the artists create. I try to remain surprised and to take a step aside from my certainties and tastes. Just like in cooking, you can't always go for the few foods you love. It's important to go for things that renew our palette of tastes.
"Twelve Proofs of Love", 9th edition of the Bourse Révélations Emerige, curated by Gaël Charbau, 190, rue Lecourbe, Paris © Rebecca Fanuele. Works by winner Dora Jeridi are presented in the exhibition of the 12 finalists until November 13. The Jury's Special Prize goes to visual artist and video artist Valentin Ranger.
6. How do you discover young artists?
I run programs that enable me to see a lot of artists, either through calls for applications or direct solicitation. I'm also lucky enough to cover areas that fascinate me. These include the relationship between art and craft through the Fondation d'entreprise Hermès residency program, emerging artists through the Bourse Révélations Emerige, the introduction of art into the public space through the "Un Été au Havre" program, and the relationship with science through my collaboration with the Cité des Sciences and the Palais de la Découverte. These different programs keep my curiosity constantly on the alert!
7. What particularly impressed you about the 9th edition of the Emerige 2022 Revelations Bursary?
As our partner gallerists Alexandre Mor and Philippe Charpentier remind us, every year we're surprised by the quality of the submissions we receive. And more generally by the "plastic" quality of this new generation of French artists, now aged between 25 and 35. This is evident not only in the diversity of the mediums they use, but also in their determination to bring new forms into the world. We're living in a time when France is regaining its central place on the world art scene, and French artists are emerging with high-quality proposals. Among other programs, the Bourse Révélations Emerige reflects this extremely rich and productive period.
Biography Gaël Charbau
- Artistic Director of "Un été au Havre" 2023-2026
- Artistic director of the ZAC Village olympique et paralympique de Paris 2024 with the Manifesto agency since 2019
- Artistic advisor for the development of contemporary art at Universcience (Palais de la découverte and Cité des sciences et de l'industrie) since 2015
- Curator of the Emerige Revelations Grant since 2014
- Director of Fine Arts programming at the Collège des Bernardins from 2014 to 2017
- Curator Audi Talents 2013-2022
- Exhibition curator for the Fondation d'entreprise Hermès since 2012
- Artistic Director Nuit Blanche 2018
- Founder and artistic director of Éditions Particules until 2010
