Bad Juju
Madison Bycroft, Mathis Collins, Mikołaj Sobczak
Curated by Exo Exo
New Galerie, Paris
June 7 – June 14, 2018
press release
Bad Juju, 2018
Exhibition view, New Galerie, Paris
Bad Juju, 2018
Exhibition view, New Galerie, Paris
Mikołaj Sobczak,
The Bricklayer, 2018
Oil on canvas
Mathis Collins,
Les Pieds Devant (Droite), 2018
Leather, cotton, plastic, paint, glycero paint
Bad Juju, 2018
Exhibition view, New Galerie, Paris
Mathis Collins,
Les Pieds Devant (Gauche), 2018
Leather, cotton, plastic, paint, glycero paint
Madison Bycroft,
Ext: Negative Politics, 2018
Souffleur, stool, two way intercom, enamel, plaster, porcelain, iron stand, chenille microfibre
Bad Juju, 2018
Exhibition view, New Galerie, Paris
Mathis Collins,
Corbillard, 2018
Metal, plastic, ceramic, cloth, leather, acrylic
Bad Juju, 2018
Exhibition view, New Galerie, Paris
Madison Bycroft,
Composed body 7, 2017
Chalk on paper
Madison Bycroft,
Human Resources, 2017
Single channel digital video, colour, sound
Bad Juju, 2018
Exhibition view, New Galerie, Paris
Madison Bycroft,
Composed body 9, 2017
Chalk on paper
Madison Bycroft,
Composed body 3, 2017
Chalk on paper
Madison Bycroft,
Composed body 4, 2017
Chalk on paper
Madison Bycroft,
Composed body 6, 2017
Chalk on paper
Madison Bycroft,
Composed body 1, 2017
Chalk on paper
Madison Bycroft,
Composed body 5, 2017
Chalk on paper
Madison Bycroft,
Composed body 2, 2017
Chalk on paper
Bad Juju, 2018
Exhibition view, New Galerie, Paris
Madison Bycroft,
And another herald, 2018
Fiberglass, chenille microfobre, enamel, trimming, trolly
Bad Juju, 2018
Exhibition view, New Galerie, Paris
Mikołaj Sobczak,
The Cursed Soldiers (Sex), 2018
Watercolor on paper
Mikołaj Sobczak,
The Cursed Soldiers (Kiss), 2018
Watercolor on paper
Mikołaj Sobczak,
The Born of Drawing, 2018
Watercolor on paper
Mikołaj Sobczak,
The Sentence, 2018
Watercolor on paper
Bad Juju, 2018
Exhibition view, New Galerie, Paris
Mikołaj Sobczak,
STAR, 2017
Digital video
"Juju’s” roots lie somewhere between ritual and witchcraft. The term used by Europeans to refer to traditional West African religious practices is actually an expression from white settlers which loosely and indifferently denotes a range of cultural practices. While "Juju" refers more specifically to objects and amulets, by cause and effect it also hints at African voodoo in general. "Juju" is a talisman, a totem. It is about the belief in an energy, a magic surrounding us, and through its appropriation in popular culture - a vibe - be it good or bad.
However, energy cannot be evaluated separately, it is first of all a connection, an exchange of flows, a context, a moment. For energy to be bad, one first has to consider it, feel it, experience it. For this exhibition, creation is considered by means of the collective experience, the artist as a poetic and political figure. In the same vein as in classical mythology - extraordinary creatures, vampires, seabed monsters, clowns - Mathis Collins, Madison Bycroft and Mikołaj Sobczak confront the modern mythologies of social spaces, community territories, workplaces. The cafes of the Parisian avant-gardes of the 19th century, the historical and political struggles of the queer movement in Poland or the office of the human resources for molluscs are more or less beneficial incarnations for social exchange.
What takes precedence here is the political and empathic body, as an actor, as a performer, as a stage director, as an anthropomorphic and modern creature and a new transgender species. Bad Juju tells the story of the failure of authoritarianism with regards to the capacity of humanly mutation, our ability to adapt, to evolve, to translate from one language to another, to produce collectively. Administrative impotence faces an "invertebrate" body, transvestite, liberated, that think of itself in a new economy of exchanges.
- Elisa Rigoulet
