VALERIE JOUVE - CORPI, INTERNO FUORI (Bodies, interior exterior)

Valérie Jouve was born in 1964 in Saint Etienne. She now lives and works in Paris.

Valerie Jouve's study investigates the urban landscape and the relationship between the body and town/city architecture. A study in which the artist tries to cause these two entities to dialogue, entities which are frequently in conflict with each other.

This is how the artist talks about her project for Storie urbane (Urban stories), entitled Corpi, interno fuori (Bodies, interior exterior):

"Reggio Emilia is a town founded on a fairly old style of architecture where, however, the relationship of the body with the town is very much alive, there is a large population. There is a large gap between the bodies that live and are present, that live here and an architecture that seems to deny this presence, a body-less architecture, that imposes itself superficially on the landscape.

I decided to work on this project following two directions. In the first place, I intend to work on the movement of bodies, on bodies that move with their own rhythm, producing a certain choreography that appears to give life to the town. In the second place, I would like to document some of the architecture, the buildings which still preserve a strong presence of history, a memory of Reggio, and which today are emptied of their life, abandoned and replaced by architecture that does not repropose this type of presence, polished architecture. I would like to compare these human bodies, living bodies with this abandoned architecture, which represents traces of a memory and that have been replaced by new, absolutely non-pro-active architecture.

I expected Reggio Emilia to be a place with fewer industries and fewer factories contrasting with the situation I found. I have seen a great deal of immigration, above all North Africans, and also many Ukrainians. However, despite this, I continue to be fairly attached to my initial idea of Italy, an Italy that still resists most of the current movement, I find that both the bodies and the architecture are highly resistant to what is happening now.

I was also very happy to see the place where Luigi Ghirri lived, he was a photographer that I loved dearly. I find that he represented modern Italy very well, however moving away from every form of stereotype. The Reggio Emilia landscape is still very poetic, very open, with a countryside that is still very present, by contrast with what is happening in France where industry has progressively replaced the countryside.

It is very important to see to what extent Italian immigration differs from French immigration. In France, the various ethnic groups close themselves up in very precise and definite places in the city, whereas here immigration is fluid, mobile and every place is shared by everyone. Here, there is no distance between the central place where the Italian population would live and the places marked by immigration. A mixed population can be seen when walking through the town. This is something that impressed me, something quite new, at least for me, since I'm French".

[Extract from the interview made for the video-documentary entitled Molte città, Sguardi diversi (Many towns, Different views), produced for the European Photography Week].

Official web site: www.valeriejouve.com.

A number of solo exhibitions

• 2005 - Hannover Sprengel Museum, commissaire Inka Schube
• 2004 - Amsterdam - Réalisation d'un Film 'Time Working', Atelier HSL
• 2004 - Lyon - Réalisation Publique, Art Entreprise
• 2003 - Marseille - Ateliers de la ville de Marseille, commissaire Thierry Olat (catalogue)
• 2003 - Villeurbanne - Institut d'Art Contemporain, commissaire Dirk Snauwaert
• 2003 - Vénissieux (France) - Centre d'Art Contemporain, commissaire Anne Giffon (commande photographique)
• 2003 - Paris - Galerie Anne de Villepoix
• 2002 - Winthertur (Suisse) - Winthertur Museum, commissaire Urs Stahel
• 2002 - Salamanque - Consorcio 2002 - "Un proyecto Fotografico" (catalogue)
• 2001 - Stockholm - Galerie Index
• 2000 - Los Angeles - Santa Monica - Galerie Shoshana and Wayne
• 2000 - Genève - Galerie Charlotte Moser
• 2000 - Beauvais (France) - Espace Culturel François Mitterand

A number of collective exhibitions

• 2004 - Paris - L'Ombre du Temps, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume
• 2004 - Paris - Autoportrait, Galerie Michel Rein
• 2004 - Lausanne - Conditions Urbaines, Galerie Donzévansaanen
• 2004 - Nürnberg - Yet Untitled, Kunsthalle Nürnberg
• 2004 - Romans (Drôme) - Portraits groupés, Palais Delphinal
• 2004 - Barcelone - Ficcions, documentals, Projection du film: 'Grand Littoral', Fundacio La Caixa
• 2004 - Rome - Fabrique de l'Image, commissaire Guillaume Legall, Villa Médicis
• 2004 - Lyon - Suite 01, Ecole des Beaux Arts de Lyon
• 2003 - Erlangen (Allemagne) - L'Invention de la Ville, Stadtmuseum (catalogue)
• 2003 - Bordeaux, Montréal et Québec - Les affiches ne meurent jamais. Le Bleu du Ciel, Artexte et le Lieu. Édition d'affiches
• 2003 - Paris - Valérie Jouve, Jean Luc Moulène, Florence Paradeis, Le Plateau
• 2004 - Vigo - Cardinales, commissaires Bartomeu Mari et Dirk Snauwaert, MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporaneo (catalogue)
• 2002 - Bruxelles - Paysages Urbains - Paysages Humains, commissaire Véronique de Belfroie, Office Park Nysdam
• 2002 - Munster - Formal Social, commissaire Carina Plath, Westfälisher Kunstverein (catalogue)
• 2002 - Brest - Réalités : Hommage à Courbet, commissaire Philippe Cyroulnik, La Passerelle (catalogue)
• 2001 - Amsterdam - Runa Islam, Valérie Jouve, Vibeke Tandberg, commissaire Hripsimé Visser, Stedelijk Museum
• 2001 - Oslo - The City / Byen, Galleri Wang
• 2001 - Sète (France) - LÉGERDIFFÉRÉ, commissaire Noelle Tissier, Centre d'Art Contemporain
• 2001 - Amsterdam - Oublier l'Exposition, Huis Marseille
• 2000 - Paris, Vitry sur seine - Cette culture qui vient de la rue, Galerie Municipale, commissaire Pierre Restany (catalogue)
• 2000 - Dortmund (Allemagne) - Plan B, hARTware projekte
• 2000 - Bruxelles - L'invitation à la ville, commissaire Anne Wauters, Bâtiment Vanderborght
• 2000 - Amiens - Valérie Jouve, Djamel Tatah, Maison de la Culture d'Amiens (catalogue) photogallery Jouve