This summer, the Power Station of Art and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain will present the exhibition Trees. With more than 200 artworks from over 30 artists from China, Latin America, India, Iran and Europe, the exhibition celebrates trees as a source of major aesthetic inspiration for human societies. It also echoes the latest scientific discoveries that shed new light on tree intelligence. Through paintings, photography, videos, drawings and installations, the exhibition brings together the testimonies, both artistic and scientific, of those capable of looking at the vegetal world with wonder. Trees aims to reveal the beauty and biological wealth of these great protagonists of the living world, threatened today with large-scale deforestation.
Alex Cerveny, “Jabuticaba”, 2021. Oil on canvas, 120 × 160 cm. Collection of the artist, São Paulo. © Alex Cerveny. Photos © Renato Parada.
Luiz Zerbini, “Happiness Beyond Paradise”, 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 300 x 600 cm. Collection of Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin. © Luiz Zerbini. Photo © Pat Kilgore.
In 2019, Trees was first exhibited at the Fondation Cartier in Paris with the initial name Nous les Arbres and met with resounding success. Organized in cooperation with the anthropologist Bruce Albert, the exhibition brought together a community of artists, botanists, and scientists such as Francis Hallé, Stefano Mancuso, Luiz Zerbini, and Fabrice Hyber, who, through their aesthetic or scientific careers, have established a strong and intimate bond with trees.
Fabrice Hyber, “Paysage de mesures”, 2019. Oil, charcoal, pastel, and epoxy on canvas, 150 × 250 cm. Collection of the artist. © Fabrice Hyber. Photo © Marc Domage.
Hu Liu, “In the Bamboo Forest”, 2012, Pencil on paper, 110 x 195 cm, Collection of the artist, Beijing. ©Hu Liu
Two years later, the Fondation Cartier and the Power Station of Art have created an extended version of the exhibition that goes beyond the exploration carried out in Paris. Not only has the exhibition been enriched with works by the Chinese artists Huang Yongping, Hu Liu, and Zhang Enli, but the Italian architect Stefano Boeri and his Shanghai-based studio have created a special installation that enables guests to explore Liuzhou Forest City, a next-generation urban architecture model that contains over 40,000 trees. Trees also brings visitors on an audiovisual journey, enhancing the sensory experience and amplifying the voices of the artists, scientists and philosophers who have collaborated on this project. To accompany the exhibition, PSA and Fondation Cartier will organize a number of special events including screenings, conferences and performances.
Zhang Enli, “The Old Tree (5)”, 2014, Oil on canvas, 300 ×250 cm. ©Zhang Enli
Johanna Calle, “Sangregado, Perímetros series”, 2014. Typed text on vintage notarial ledgers, 332 x 332 cm. Archivos Pérez & Calle, Bogotá. © Johanna Calle. Photo © Archivos Pérez & Calle.
The latest in a series of collaborations between the Power Station of Art and the Fondation Cartier, this exhibition follows the footsteps of A Beautiful Elsewhere, Junya Ishigami: Freeing Architecture, and Jean Nouvel: In my head, in my eye... belonging.... The exhibition’s curatorial team is made up of Hervé Chandès, General Director of the Fondation Cartier, Gong Yan, Director of the Power Station of Art, Bruce Albert, anthropologist, Fei Dawei, art critic and exhibition curator, and Isabelle Gaudefroy, Director of Programing and Artistic Projects at the Fondation Cartier.
This exhibition is part of the Croisements Festival 2021.
About the artists
Bruce Albert, Grga Basic, Stefano Boeri, Jake Bryant, Johanna Calle, Alex Cerveny, Ehuana Yaira, John Gerrard, Francis Hallé, Hu Liu, Huang Yong Ping, Fabrice Hyber, Luc Jacquet, Joseca, Kalepi Sanöma, Mahmoud Khan, Cesare Leonardi, François-Michel Le Tourneau, Stefano Mancuso, Sebastián Mejía, Santidio Pereira, Jivya Soma Mashe, Jérôme Schlomoff, Franca Stagi, Afonso Tostes, Adriana Varejão, Cássio Vasconcellos, Luiz Zerbini, Zhang Enli.
About Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
The Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain is a private cultural institution whose mission is to promote contemporary art to the international public through a program of temporary exhibitions, live performances, and lectures. Created in 1984 by the Maison Cartier, its historic center is located in Paris in a building designed by the architect Jean Nouvel, a creative space for artists and encounters with the public. Fostering surprising and unexpected encounters between artists, scientists, philosophers, musicians, and architects from around the world, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has developed over the years, a program of distinctive contemporary art exhibitions and built a unique collection that brings together more than 2000 works by 500 artists of 50 different nationalities. In recent years the Fondation has initiated partnerships with major institutions over the world, organizing exhibitions in cities such as Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Seoul Milano and Shanghai.
About the exhibition
Dates: 09/07/2021 — 10/10/2021
Venue: 7F, PSA
Organizers: Power Station of Art, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
The curatorial team: Bruce Albert, Hervé Chandès, Fei Dawei, Isabelle Gaudefroy, Gong Yan
Courtesy of the artists and Power Station of Art.
