13 / 02 / 2012

Collection's life

New installation of works from the Societe Generale Collection

Carte blanche to Régis Durand, exhibition curator and former director of the Jeu de Paume in Paris

Jiri Georg Dokoupil, Blaue Blasen auf Türkis, 2007 Jiri Georg Dokoupil, Blaue Blasen auf Türkis, 2007

The new installation of works from the Societe Generale Collection has been realized by Régis Durand, on the theme "Crossing worlds".

12 / 10 / 2011

Collection's life

The Collection partner the FIAC 2011

One day, one work : the artists talk about their works at the Societe Generale's corner (Grand Palais)

FIAC 2011 FIAC 2011

For the second consecutive year, Societe Generale is proud to partner the FIAC, an unmissable insight into the international artistic scene. Each day, from the 20 October until the 23 October at the Societe Generale corner, the public will discover an artist and a work of the Societe Generale contemporary art Collection.

Thursday 20th October, 6pm: interview with Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil
Presentation by the artist of his work The Day_Before Star System_New York_September 10, 2001_23:59, 2004
6.30 pm: Signature by the artist of his catalogue Bird’s eye view

Friday 21st October, 6pm: interview with Eva Nielsen
Presentation by the artist of her work Mobil-home, 2009
6.30 pm: Signature by the artist of his catalogue Elvendon

Saturday 22nd October, 6pm: interview with Alain Bublex
resentation by the artist of his work Plug - in city (2000) – Eiffel 1, 2002
6.30 pm: Signature by the artist of his monograph volume Alain Bublex and limited edition prints

Sunday 23rd October, 6pm: interview with Farah Atassi
Presentation by the artist of her work Transitional Home, 2009

The artists will be interviewed by Guy Boyer, Editor-in-Chief of Connaissance des Arts and Sophie Gonzalez, Director of Artstorming - Collection's consultant

05 / 10 / 2011

New acquisitions

New acquisitions

Fifteen new works have been added to the Societe Generale Collection since the artwork acquisition committee meeting held in July 2011.

Philippe Decrauzat
Untitled, 2011

Laurent Grasso
Anechoic wall ,2010

Bernard Piffaretti
Sans titre, 2008

Mélanie Vincent
État Montagne, 2010

Antoine Schneck
Sanké Bah, 2010

Liu Bolin
Hide in the City - Paris - 03, 2011
Hide in the City - Paris - 04, 2011

Olaf Breuning
Pablo, 2011

Lionel Estève
Red Green Monochrome, 2009

Ji Yeon Sung
La Tricoteuse, 2006
Sac plastique 1, 2009

Jonathan Monk
It’s A Circus (dark Grey), 2011

Eric Rondepierre
Sortie, 2008

Christian Bonnefoi
Eureka V, 1999

Elodie et Delphine Chevalme
Sans titre, 2010

Find all the new acquisitions in the "works" section.

12 / 06 / 2008

Collection's life

The Société Générale Collection goes to Bordeaux

From 14th June to 31st August, the Bordeaux contemporary art museum (CAPC) is exhibiting a selection of works of art from the Société Générale Collection within the framework of the “Présence Panchounette” retrospective.

“Pour une méthodologie d’accrochage Feng shui” (in favour of a Feng Shui method of arranging paintings): an enigmatic name for an exhibition that is well worth visiting. Addressing the topics of decoration and modernity, this exhibition is organised in accordance with the principles of feng shui, the ancestral Chinese way of arranging objects in certain ways. All the works of art displayed have a common factor: they call into question the art of representation and the object’s relationship with contemporary aesthetics and real life. Société Générale has made a number of key items of its Collection available for this exhibition, including Andy Warhol’s “Flowers” and photographical work by Valérie Belin. As well as displaying works of art from its Collection, Société Générale is also a partner of the “Présence Panchounette” exhibition at the CAPC in Bordeaux, which assesses the path of the group of Bordeaux artists from the 1970s whose art criticised the arbitrary nature of aesthetic judgment that excludes some objects from its field of interest. Works by this group of artists are also on display in various places around the city of Bordeaux. Through these artistic events, Société Générale is further reaffirming its commitment to contemporary art, which has been a patronage policy in its own right for the Group since 2004.

18 / 06 / 2007

Collection's life

The Group’s contemporary art collection in Bucarest

On the occasion of the celebration of “ BRD’s month of contemporary art”, Société Générale put a part of its collection at the disposal of its Romanian subsidiary. The Group's collection gathers 170 major works of art and 700 lithograpies among which forty are currently exhibited at the national Museum of contemporary art of Bucarest. The vernissage took place on 13th June and the exhibition will be opened to the public until 15th July 2007. This initiative shows the Group’s will to share its artistic acquisitions with both its subsidiaries and the public.

26 / 01 / 2012

Words

3 questions for ...

Cédric Teisseire, Societe Generale Collection artist

Cédric Teisseire Cédric Teisseire

What are your impressions of the Societe Generale Collection?
The Collection is composed of an ensemble of energetic art pieces that makes it both daring and diverse. I was able to appreciate the full extent of the Collection by browsing the website, which really made me want to see the pieces in situ and find out which audiences are being targeted, and how the pieces are displayed and therefore experienced. This is pivotal to any work of art, in my opinion, for it is a way of gauging both the relevance and the character of a collection.

What were your 2011 highlights in terms of art?
I was particularly moved by the exhibition entitled Contemporary Art and the Côte d’Azur - An Area for Experimentation, 1951 – 2011 which showcased the quality and richness of the region's current artistic scene.*

The exhibition successfully convened a variety of exhibition areas, ranging from the most corporate to the most unusual, as part of a collection that expressed the zeitgeist of contemporary creation. The results of the vivacity and diversity of the projects put forward were rather surprising, and proved that the Côte d'Azur is also a self-replenishing artistic hub. It has its own unique character that goes beyond its regional borders, resonating in the international art scene.

With regards to my work, I was able to find support and an audience to recognise my work since the mid-1990s as both an artist and founder of La Station, a space for exhibiting and making art in Nice.

What does 2012 have in store for you?
My work will be presented at the À l'origine Nice exhibition at the Marlborough gallery in Monaco in March, at the Le Domaine Perdu gallery in Meyrals (Dordogne) in April, and in May at the Paradis Design exhibition at Sinibaldi in Marseille. I will also have two private exhibitions in July at Patrick Des Gâchons in Fraïssé-des-Corbières, Aude, and then in September at the RX gallery in Paris.

* As part of Contemporary Art and the Côte d’Azur - An Area for Experimentation, 1951 – 2011, an exhibition held in some fifty cultural venues, the Societe Generale Collection loaned Raymond Hains's Seita.

05 / 10 / 2011

Collection's life

Exhibition “Urban Mythologies” at the MAMAC in Nice

Thomas Ruff, w.h.s 05, 2001 © ADAGP Thomas Ruff, w.h.s 05, 2001 © ADAGP

From 17 September to 11 December 2011, the MAMAC (Museum of modern and contemporary art) in Nice will be exhibiting a selection of photographs from the Societe Generale Collection on the theme of “Urban Mythologies”.

This series, selected by the MAMAC, offers a forward-looking and comprehensive vision of the international photography scene. The exhibition broaches themes such as the urban landscape, the interaction between architecture and nature, the confrontation of old versus modern, and memory and imagination. Visitors will be able to discover the works of Kader Attia, Gilles Barbier, Eric Baudelaire, Marie Bovo, Alain Bublex, Victor Brugin, Edward Burtynsky, Stéphane Couturier, Luo Dan, Danica Dakic, Francesco Jodice, Xiang Liqing, Mathieu Pernot, Philippe Ramette, Georges Rousse, Thomas Ruff, Vivan Sundaram and Matej Andraz Vogrincic.
 
Practical info: www.mamac-nice.org / +33 4 97 13 42 01

05 / 10 / 2011

Collection's life

Philippe Cognée’s "Chicago 1" on loan to Nantes

Philippe Cognée, Chicago 1, 2007 © ADAGP Philippe Cognée, Chicago 1, 2007 © ADAGP

Philippe Cognée’s Chicago 1 (2007) will be presented at the Hangar à Bananes in Nantes from 8 November 2011 to 15 February 2012 as part of  The Limits of control exhibition organised by Philippe Vergne, exhibition curator and Director of FRAC Auvergne.

24 / 01 / 2008

Collection's life

The art Collection is being exhibited in Morocco

For the first time, Société Générale’s contemporary art Collection is being exhibited outside Europe, in the Moroccan city of Casablanca. Within the framework of the “Convergences” exhibition organised by Société Générale Morocco, 29 artists from the Group’s art Collection in France will have their works of art displayed alongside those of Moroccan artists – these local works of art belong to the Moroccan bank’s own collection. This exceptional exhibition can be visited from 13th December 2007 to 14th March 2008 in Société Générale’s art area in Casablanca. Société Générale Morocco has, since 1975, been involved in the conservation of Morocco’s cultural and artistic heritage, which it supports, enriches and gives value to – notably via a collection incorporating some 900 works of art. For further information: www.sgmaroc.com

04 / 04 / 2007

Collection's life

A Springtime in Southern France

Twelve works of art from Société Générale’s collection will spend April and March at the Carré d’Art of Nîmes, where they will be completely part of the museum’s new exhibition. The first room gathers pieces in which the artist’s will tends to fade in favor of rules which provide them with a certain degree of autonomy – and life. Around Seita, Raymond Hains’ giant matchbook, the visitor will be able to see various works of art from the Nouveaux Réalistes (“New Realists”), such as Niki de Saint-Phalle’s Tir à la carabine (“Rifle Shooting”). The next room is all about the illusion in which the artist plunges into, taking the viewer with him. The visitor will thus admire the play with light created by Laurent Pariente with his zinc plate. Whether the purpose is to engrave the artistic approach in everyday life, to play with the viewer’s senses or to go past the opposition between abstraction and figuration, the photographs and paintings of Société Générale’s collection will be in a deep dialog with the works of art belonging to Nîmes’ contemporary art museum.

16 / 12 / 2011

Words

3 questions for ...

Interview of Cléry Bouter, Societe Generale Advisor on contemporary art purchasing

Cléry Bouter © Yana Vetcherkovskaya Cléry Bouter © Yana Vetcherkovskaya

A Societe Generale Advisor on contemporary art purchasing? He thought he was just an art-lover. Not quite! He tells us about his experience.

"Working with art experts? It's a different world, we come from completely different planets and we don't play by the same rules. It was a shock for both sides!" exclaims Cléry Bouter. A study manager at the Corporate and Investment banking Resources Division, Cléry was interested in contemporary art but never dreamed that he would become a purchasing advisor for our contemporary art collection. "The Collection is beautiful, you can't miss it, and I was already familiar with it: it was mainly having this opportunity that made me want to contribute to it." He applied... and was accepted! All of this happened last year, when Societe Generale's contemporary art collection expanded its selection committee from two to four art experts and added four Group employees who work in pairs with the experts

"The Selection Committee's first job was to choose the works to be presented at an initial board meeting. I still consider myself an outsider, and at times it's hard for me to find the words and arguments to defend a work I've proposed and believe in to the experts. But that might be the key to the committee's work: striking a balance so that we can make selections which fit into the Collection and its spirit, while taking risks and betting on young and unfamiliar talents."

Cléry confides that, "My favourite purchase that we've made is definitely "Etat Montagne" by Mélanie Vincent. She's only 26 years old and I feel that it's very important to purchase works by young artists, as well as from more experienced artists."

How would he sum up his year on the committee? "Now I really feel that the Collection is alive! I have a firsthand view of the care taken to maintain and enrich it, to get it out of the Towers and to get people talking about it."

05 / 10 / 2011

Collection's life

New installation of works from the Societe Generale Collection

Carte blanche to Agnès Violeau, exhibition curator

Jonathan Monk, It's a Circus (dark grey), 2011 Jonathan Monk, It's a Circus (dark grey), 2011

Societe Generale regularly invites exhibition curators to work on new installations of works from the Collection in the Societe Generale towers at La Défense.

Agnès Violeau centred the new installation (September 2011-January 2012) on the theme of “Utopia”.

“The Societe Generale Collection holds a wealth of photographs and manufactured paintings, providing a window to a courtyard. The quest for a world in which man, nature and progress unite in perfect harmony, theological aspiration, visionary landscapes and contemporary ruins are just a few of the subjects explored, exposing a universe born in the duality of doubt and reconciliation. I felt that the concept of utopia was the epicentre of this collection, encouraging each of us to consider the beauty surrounding us with greater attention.” Agnès Violeau


10 / 02 / 2009

Collection's life

An exhibition of the Collection in Paris at “Le Laboratoire”

Société Générale is happy to present for the first time in Paris a selection of the works of its collection: Dionisio GONZALEZ, Raymond HAINS, Laurent PARIENTE, Philippe RAMETTE, Vassilakis TAKIS … “Le Laboratoire” ? It is a center of art situated right in the heart of Paris, next to the Palais Royal, that welcomes a selection of works of the Collection. Inaugurated officially on February 10th, the exhibition is opened to the public until May 4th, 2009. You will also discover the works of a young talented Indian artist, Shilpa Gupta. Her exhibition is the result of works realized with neuropsychiatrist Mahzarin Banaji on the subject of the fear. To know more about it: http: // www.lelaboratoire.org/.

17 / 11 / 2007

Collection's life

Patronage focusing on an artist: Tom Carr

Société Générale is the patron of the Modern Art Museum in Céret, nestled between Pyrenees and Mediterranean, within the framework of an exhibition entitled Collection Société Générale: œuvres choisies (Société Générale collection: chosen works) that will also include Tom Carr’s I by numbers display. As such, the Group will exhibit, from 17th November 2007 to 14th January 2008, a selection of works from its contemporary art collection and will install Tom Carr’s I by numbers for the museum. The Céret Modern Art Museum has worked with Tom Carr for many years. Société Générale’s Collection also includes a number of works of art by this artist, including Seed, Helix, Miroir d’eau and In Tense. A fine operation based on an artist who links Société Générale to Céret’s Modern Art Museum.