SUPER TERRAM, an allegory of our contemporary artificial lives… disconnected from the living

11 international artists at the forefront of the international urban art scene, from February 10th to March 19th 2023, are gathered in Paris to create a powerful and sensitive exhibition at a 3 000 M2 space and to “question our human condition”

At the invitation of the Fondation Desperados pour l’Art Urbain, the curator-artist Gaël Lefeuvre has invited 11 of the most avant-gardiste international artists of the contemporary urban art scene to produce an immersive and free exhibition at a 3,000 square meters former industrial factory in the 11th district of Paris.

SUPER TERRAM (Latin for “out of the ground”) is an allegory of our artificial contemporary lives, which have lost their bearings in the face of Nature and the elements that constitute existence. The artists will give their interpretation through a diversity of organic and evolving artworks among which sculptures, paintings, visual and sound installations, as well as digital artworks, all created in situ.

Known for his exhibitions in unusual places, the curator-artist Gaël Lefeuvre pursues here his ambition to offer a new way of presenting urban practice, by reinventing the genre and shaking up the lines.

SUPER TERRAM gathers 11 artists who have in common to work a contextual art: ironic objects sculptor Michael Beitz (United States), iconoclast artist Gonzalo Borondo (Spain), CELA collective (France) which questions our relationship to reality through luminous creations, GIF prodigy A. L. Crego (Spain), master of detour Germain Ipin (France), environmentalist sculptor Joaquín Jara (Spain), Addam Yekutieli alias Know Hope (Israel) known for his collaborative projects around social issues, sculptor Amir Roti (France) who questions our relationship to time and space through his work on stone, street painter and explorer Seth (France), as well as the multidisciplinary artist Axel Void (USA) who sublimates the ordinary.

Like tireless researchers, they all make experimentation with materials and dialogue with their environment their spearhead. The video artist Matteo Berardone (Italy) presents a series of films relating the creative process of the 11 artists who worked together in this “artistic laboratory” that is SUPER TERRAM.

The subdued and immersive scenography of SUPER TERRAM offers an artistic and sensory experience in the heart of a 3,000 m2 space covered with earth, a symbol of the eternal cycle of life. It is an allegory of our contemporary artificial lives… disconnected from the living. Everything seeks to destabilise and move the spectator, appealing to his five senses and transforming the visit into an experience that touches his sensibility and his imagination. The works, composed of natural and organic elements (earth, wood, rock, vegetation, etc.), seem to emerge from the ground to “question our human condition”. Their changing, living and ephemeral character questions our relationship with time, the elements, our ancestral and modern references, our memories and the sacred. The artists thus invite us to become aware of the continuous “construction-destruction” cycle inherent in existence.

An atypical exhibition space

The Espace Voltaire, a former small industrial factory, is conducted since 2019 a vast project of temporary occupation carried out by the cooperative Plateau Urbain. The Fondation Desperados pour l’Art Urban has been invited to magnify the space one last time through an out-of-the-ordinary urban art exhibition. At the end of the SUPER TERRAM event, the building will be completely restored and restructured.

The Fondation Desperados pour l’Art Urbain

Created in 2018, the Fondation Desperados pour l’Art Urbain, is committed to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary urban art in all its forms. It makes a point of supporting artists, both emerging and more established, in the enrichment of their practice and the development of their projects. It favours exchange and sharing and deploys its action in the heart of society through nomadic events. Bold, innovative and creative, the Fondation Desperados pour l’Art Urbain addresses artists, actors in the art scene and the general public with freedom and sincerity.

Exhibition venue:

Fondation Desperados pour l’Art Urbain at Espace Voltaire

81, boulevard Voltaire – 75011 Paris
Metro Ligne 11 Saint-Ambroise – Ligne 5 Richard Lenoir

Opening days and hours:

10 February to 19 March 2023, Wednesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 19:00 Free entrance

To go further: https://fondationdesperados.com/projets/

Instagram: @fondationdesperados