Exhibition on the Theme ‘Laughter’ at l’Entrepôt Gallery
24 pieces based on the theme “Laughing in the world as it is” are being exhibited at the l’Entrepôt Gallery until the 14th of March. Visitors are invited to vote on the spot for their favorite piece.
There were 70 works in January and only 24 remain. For the event’s 7th edition, Daniel Boeri, director of l’Entrepôt, wished to give an opportunity for emerging artists to express themselves. Without prior selection, 70 artists from eight nationalities were given the opportunity to be exhibited at the Warehouse from the 11th to the 31st of January. The public had the opportunity to vote for its favorite work on the internet, a real success according to the director: “In three weeks we had 2,354 votes, more than 137,000 page views and 10,500 visitors. This important flow has made it possible to better present works and create a certain enthusiasm, especially on social networks.”
Innovative Artists
Feelings are also a bit mixed: “The use of the Internet is a double-edged sword. I’m a bit disappointed with the Facebook buzz. Following the reactions, I thought we would’ve had more participants. And in terms of votes, it’s true that artists with large address books have more chance of being selected, we also had to do deal with people voting more than once. Fortunately our webmaster took care of it.
The particularity of the works this year certainly lies in the richness of the supports. For the first time, an artist used video, while others used computer software like Photoshop to make photo montages.
“In previous editions, we had a lot of traditional painting, using oils or acrylics. The artists were perhaps more timid,” says Caroline Rivalan, gallery manager. The materials used were not the only challenge for the artists, the theme of laughter was also complicated: “Many artists were very interested in the competition but did not succeed in producing a work which suited the theme. Maybe it was too general,” says Caroline Rivalan.
Results on the 14th of March
The organizers did not want an exhibition dealing with laughing in a personal sense, but rather a global laughter. The subtitle “In the world as it is” implies a certain social cohesion, an important message in response to the attacks which took place on the 14th of July. Visitors to the Warehouse are invited to vote for their favorite work until the 14th of March, the day when the winners will be announced and awarded one of three prizes: the Grand Prize, the Public Prize and Monaco Telecom Prize. The three winners will be published on the covers of the catalogues and the Grand Prize winner will win their own exhibition.
Photo source: www.lentrepot-
