MATHILDE ALBOUY
STRAIGHT, NO CHASER
Group show curated by La Méditerranée

Following an invitation from the Zuzeum Art Centre, the Parisian research group La Méditerranée has composed an exhibition and created two architectures, Tower and Zeppelin, that are rooted in the history of Riga and echo the singular nature of the Zuzāns collection. Presented in the exhibition are works which come from the Zuzāns collection, international galleries and Latvian museums, and range from 16th century icons to contemporary art.

La Méditerranée is an exhibition-oriented research group founded in 2020 by Ulysse Geissler, Mateo Revillo and Edgar Sarin. For the past ten years, each of them has been working on generating specific ecosystems within exhibition processes. La Méditerranée considers the exhibition as an active system, seeking to shift from a classic method of presentation to an experimental and dynamic one. To describe that drift, La Méditerranée wields an analogy with a Jazz formation, as artists in their studio practice are like a lonesome saxophone player working his scales, while also he finds himself in a space that complements the studio, enrolled in the ensemble’s improvisation.

Improvisation plays a significant role in the group’s modus operandi, bringing them closer to the musical practice of jazz. In their approach, La Méditerranée does not select works around a theme. Instead, it follows the law of the good neighbour in the manner of Austrian art historian Aby Warburg, and casts an unranked look at a set of works. Without themes, the discovery and free selection of works for this exhibition give them a renewed sense that established methods prevent. The singular parts of history, bits of geography, and patchworks of individual paths that inform each work’s unique shape are the different pulses that mark the rhythm of viewership. This inverse perspective on the pieces, where each brings their own beat, reveals them to this exact historical and local moment. All these concurrent points of view compose the exhibition as a work of art. The exhibition Straight, No Chaser is named after a 1967 piece by the famous American Jazz musician Thelonious Monk.

Featured artists:
Valdis Āboliņš, Mathilde Albouy, David Altmejd, Anda Ārgale, Māris Ārgalis, Natalie Ball, Valdis Celms, Vija Celmins, Rudīte Dreimane, Andris Grinbergs, Thomas Hirschhorn, Miriam Cahn, Sanya Kantarovsky, On Kawara, Nika Kutateladze, Alicja Kwade, Inga Meldere, Miervaldis Polis, Vilhelms Purvītis, Mateo Revillo, Janis Rozentāls, Edgar Sarin, Nastaran Shahbazi, Uga Skulme, Laimonis Stīpnieks, Johann Walter-Kurau, Manon Wertenbroek, Visvaldis Ziediņš

Zuzeum Art Centre
Lāčplēša iela 101, Latgales priekšpilsēta,
Rīga, LV-1011, Lettonie

Mathilde Albouy
Gate to our world (take-off room), 2024
Wood, brass, mirror
74 3/4 x 69 1/8 x 3 1/8 inches

Mathilde Albouy → Zuzeum Art Centre