launch editions Laurence Cathala, Les Versions and Some of us, Artistes contemporainexs, an anthology,

Laurence Cathala, Les Versions, ed. Sombres torrents presentation and reading by the artist

Since 2014, Laurence Cathala has been displaying on the wall a series of texts to be seen as much as read, which she calls Les Versions. Nine texts displayed on the scale of the body and augmented with written and drawn graphics make up this work of fiction.  The exhibition Tourner sa langue will not only show the last and Ninth Versions, but also present a book of the texts, published by Sombres Torrents. The writing of Versions invokes the literary register of anticipation, describing a world close to our own, where certain catastrophes have already taken place. However, the story is commented on by a reader from an even more distant future. He or she asks questions about the events mentioned and the enigmas they raise. He or she also sometimes adds historical details or meaning, like an exegete. In each of the wall installations, this story takes up two large printed pages, taken from a much larger fictional book. The typographed text is surrounded by handwritten annotations, formalising the hand, body and voice of a commentator. In the book published with Sombres torrents, these annotations become notes. The edition brings together the texts that had previously been exhibited separately, making their variations and continuities perceptible, as well as the evolution of a broader narrative and its narration.

Some of us, Artistes contemporainexs, an anthology, Manuella Éditions with Marianne Derrien and Jérôme Cotinet-Alphaize

These archives are preceded by a well-documented and referenced text, which traces a multiplicity of histories, those of the artistic and curatorial scenes in France, as well as the artistic, theoretical, aesthetic and philosophical issues involved. This text puts into perspective a number of reference works, research projects and exhibitions (retrospectives, monographs or group shows) that have marked the support and visibility of contemporary artists.

To complete this research into the history of contemporary art, an editorial committee has been set up alongside the anthology's artistic and scientific directors: two artists Katia Kameli and Claude Closky, Marie Chênel & Matylda Taszycka - for the AWARE association - Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions, Guillaume Mansart - director of the Documents d'artistes PACA network, Julie Crenn - art critic & independent curator, Cédric Fauq - chief curator / Capc Bordeaux and Sarah Ihler-Meyer - art critic & independent curator.

Complete with several indexes (artist-author, curator, photographers, places), our anthology is conceived as a reference work and a working tool for artists, art historians, researchers, amateur, and all those interested in the history of contemporary art and the visibility of contemporary artists.

The graphic choices we have made mean that our anthology can be explored by readers in a non-linear way. This editorial act constitutes a form of exhibition in its own right.