Visual Arts Center in Austin Presents Exhibition with Frac Bretagne – Art Norac Recipient Corentin Canesson

Sleep Spaces is named for a poem by the influential French surrealist poet Robert Desnos between 1919 and 1929. Written with the kind of free associations that are characteristic of surrealist automatic writing, Desnos’ “Les espaces du sommeil” combines the sounds and sights of the night, of dreaming, with the constant refrain, “there you are… there you are.” In Sleep Spaces, the surrealist strategy of combining disparate and seemingly incongruous references, objects, and symbols becomes a curatorial conceit to construct new associations, achieved by combining historical and contemporary works of art. These groupings challenge us to consider how we interpret works of art and how curatorial choices aid in this process.  

Canesson’s site-responsive installation attempts to do just this, by fostering new modes of interpretation through surprising moments of connection. The exhibition also features an ambient soundtrack with music from Canesson’s experimental band, TNHCH. 

Corentin Canesson: Sleep Spaces / Les espaces du sommeil is organized as part of the Frac Bretagne – Art Norac Award of which Canesson is the 2021 award recipient. Created to promote the work of emerging artists from the Brittany region of France, the award is supported by Frac Bretagne, a leading institution in the western region of France, and Art Norac, an organization dedicated to the patronage of the arts.  

The exhibition is supported by Villa Albertine / FACE Foundation and Galerie Sator, Paris.  

About Corentin Canesson

Corentin Canesson (b. 1988, Brest, France) lives and works in Paris and Brest, France. He received his DNSEP at École Européenne Supérieure d’Art de Bretagne, Rennes (2011) and attended Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig (2010). He has had solo exhibitions at the Galerie Sator, Paris (2020); Gallery Nathalie Obadia, Paris (2018); Centre d’art Contemporain le Crédac, Ivry-sur-Seine (2017); Centre d’art Contemporain Passerelle, Brest (2015); amongst others. His work has also been in group exhibitions at Musée Zadkine, Paris (2021); Frac Bretagne, Rennes (2021); Art au Centre, Liége (2020); Frac Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2019); Les Abattoirs de Toulouse (2017); and Jean Brolly Gallery, Paris (2020, 2016). Canesson received the Frac Bretagne-Art Norac Award (2021) and participated in the Ricard Prize sponsored by the Pernod Ricard Corporate foundation (2019). He co-directed Standards, Rennes (2008-2014) and is a curatorial resident at DOC!, Paris. He is a guitarist in the experimental band TNHCH.