Arnaud Cohen MRSS

Arnaud Cohen is a French sculptor and performer born January 28th 1968, living and working between his river island factory in the center of France and his other studio in Mallorca, Spain. Through his work, Cohen addresses the subject of individual responsibility in the building of collective destinies.

Presented in 2015 by the French daily Le Figaro as one of the ten personalities reinventing culture in France, Arnaud Cohen began his career as a visual artist in 1997 by integrating the Marwan Hoss gallery (Paris and Brussels, Marwan Hoss was then also vice President of the International Fair of Contemporary Art). At the time, Cohen's practice was all about collage, using all the existing materials, refusing to paint or carve so as to "resist any decorative temptation", as he himself stated. After a setback following the partial closure of the Marwan Hoss Galery in 2000, Cohen is back at work in 2005. While dealing with the same obsessions, his art evolves radically on the formal level: Cohen remained an appropriationist, but his practice moved from collaging objects to collaging ideas, slipping these ideas into established forms and styles to better pervert them.

He often draws from Situationist traditions to unpack frames of allegory. His techniques of appropriation extend across aesthetic forms such as antic greek sculptures, contemporary display mannequins or Carl Andre's walk in sculptures, and accroos social forms such as a foundation, a dance floor or a reality television set.

2016 - 2020 : Recent (and next) biennials and exhibitions : 

BIENNIALS

2020 Kampala Art Biennale, The Studio 2020, Kampala, Uganda, curator Simon Njami

2019 Bienalsur, Untref Museum, B. Aires, Argentina, curators Anibal Jozami and Diana Wechsler

Take Care of your Garden, off Venice Biennale, Giudecca Art District, Venice, Italy

2018 Something Else Cairo Biennale, Cairo, Egypt, curator Simon Njami

2017 Venice Biennale, Salon Suisse (official Swiss programm), Palazzo Trevisan, curator Koyo Kouho

Venice Biennale, Arts and Globalization Pavilion, Palazzo Rossini, curator Rikke Jorgensen

Bienalsur, Untref Museum, B. Aires, Argentina, curators Anibal Jozami and Diana Wechsler

2016 Dak'art Biennale, Raw Material, Dakar, Senegal, curator Simon Njami

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020 Effacements (Erasures), MNAC National Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest, curator Enrico Lunghi, Bucharest, Roumania

2019 Ich freute mich auf einen letzten Tanz, Nagel Draxler Gallery, Cologne, Germany

Dance over me World Tour, YIA Art Fair (off Paris Photo) : guest artist

2018 There is no better time for better times, La Coutellerie, France

2017 Hunting Season, Berlin Rosa Luxembourg Platz Kunstverein, Germany, curator Susanne Prinz

2016 Tout doit disparaitre, Villa Ada Savoia, Rome, Italy, curator Valentina G Levy

Hunting Season solo exhibition, Kepler Art Conseil, Paris, France

 

GROUP SHOWS (selection)

2019 Regards d'artistes, Musée du Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris, France, curator Sophie Nagiscarde Roll over Maurice Rocher, Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France, curator Yann Chevallier

Bancs d'Artistes, Musée de Chatellerault, Chatellerault, France, curator Glidas Le Reste

Après l'amour, Aedaen Gallery, at the invitation of Laurent Lacotte

2018 in Wirginia Woolf, an exhibition inspired by her writings, Tate St Ives, curators Laura Smith & Anne Barlow exhibited Cohen's ASFI fictional foundation among the real foundation supporting the show

ORGAN_ICON, Bureau d'Art et de Recherche, Roubaix, France, curator Nicolas Tourte

Talking about a Revolution, 52 Visconti, Paris, France, curator Paul Ardenne

2017 Artothèque du Havre, France, curator Maxence Alcalde

Le Paradoxe du Cartel, Galerie Valerie Delaunay, Paris, curator Isabelle de Maison Rouge

Le Temps Retrouvé 3, Les Bains, Paris, France, curators Gwenael Billaud & Sylvana Laurens
2016 Do Disturb, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France, curator Vittoria Matarrese

En réponse à la guerre, Kielcach National Museum, Poland, curator Freddy Pannecocke

Out of Frame Topographie de l’Art, Paris, curator Barbara Polla Analix Forever

 

RESIDENCIES, CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS

2020 Kampala Biennale, Uganda : 7 masters adressing the new generation : 2 weeks workshop

IESA Art School, Paris, master class on curating with Antoine de Galbert's friendly participation

2019 Fondation François Sommer (Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature), France : Residency

IESA, Paris, master class on curating with Enrico Lunghi and Simon Njami's friendly participations

2018 IESA, Paris, master class on curating with Philippe Méaille's friendly participation

2017 UNTREF Museum, Buenos Aires : Lecture on Cohen's vision on history of food performances

Chateau de Montsoreau Contemporary Art Museum : Lecture on Cohen's protest works

IESA Art School, Paris, master class on curating with Enrico Lunghi's friendly participation

2016 Centre Georges Pompidou Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, Museum On/Of festival: ASFI Présentation by Arnaud Cohen, curator Alicia Knock