The exhibition gathers works by more than 50 artists – sculpture, installation, video, painting and performance – sharing material, formal or cultural ties with fairgrounds’ components. Artworks are thus made from air, electricity, steel and plastic but also sugar and oil. Barbe à Papa’s hypothesis is that the fairground is a place of choice to attempt to get closer to the sky. Think of the rides you find there: today Ferris wheels and rollercoasters, yesterday greasy poles and aerial walks. Bodies fly away, balloons flutter, sugar takes the shape of cumulonimbuses. Everything at the fair participate in suspending terrestrial gravity.

Barbe à Papa is equally the attempt – historically grounded – to bring the fairground and the exhibition together, to better understand their shared mechanisms, but also ask the question: what can the museum learn from the funfair today? As well as: is an artwork, always, an attraction?

Curated by Cédric Fauq
Chief curator and head of projects at Capc

With works by:  Bogdan Ablozhnyy, Alfredo Aceto, Lutz Bacher, Bertille Bak, Ericka Beckman, Meriem Bennani, Kasper Bosmans, AA Bronson, Chila Burman, Julien Ceccaldi, René Clair, Mathis Collins, Matt Copson, Jesse Darling, Kevin Desbouis, Eliza Douglas, Dr. Eugène Doyen, Marcel Duchamp, Cécile di Giovanni, Anders Dickson, Natacha Donzé, Stano Filko, Nicholas Grafia, Ram Han, EJ Hill, Carsten Höller, Agata Ingarden, Silas Inoue, Ken Jacobs, Gregory Kalliche, Matthew Langan Peck, Miriam Laura Leonardi, Ghislaine Leung, Thomas Liu Le Lann, Johann Lurf, Fabrizio Milani & Andrea Dal Molin, Arash Nassiri, Gyan Panchal, Russell Perkins, Harilay Rabenjamina, Pierre-Lin Renié, Christophe de Rohan Chabot, Diane Severin Nguyen, Israel Urmeer, Julie Villard & Simon Brossard, Kristin Walsh, Bri Williams, Mara Wohnhaas, Cici Wu, Dena Yago, Vivien Zhang, Jenkin Van Zyl.

Opening: Thursday Novembre 3rd, 7pm – midnight
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition Barbe à Papa, Capc hosts an evening of performances, music and artworks activation with artists and special guests.
With: Mathis Collins, [M] Dudeck for AA Bronson, Nora Silva, Thx4crying, Jenkin van Zyl, Mara Wohnhaas and DJ Donna.
Food and drinks available.

With the support of Pro Helvetia, Swiss arts council; Fluxus Art Projects; the Danish art Foundation and the Fondation d’entreprise Martell.

Thanks to Montel Group and CEIR.