Sterling Ruby: Soft Work / Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève / Nuit des Bains

Three times a year the association Quartier des Bains in Geneva, Switzerland organizes the so called “Nuits des Bains”. The galleries of the main gallery district in Geneva present their new exhibitions, while the member institutions are open. On the occasion of the first of three “Nuits des Bains” that take place on the third Thursday in March, May and September each year, VernissageTV had a look some of the exhibitions and documented four of them.

The first is Sterling Ruby’s show Soft Work at the Centre d’Art Contemporain. For his solo show in Geneva, Los Angeles-based artist Sterling Ruby decided to focus on one specific body of work from his multifaceted practice, the “soft sculptures”. The entire gallery space is filled with stuffed fabric objects, hanging from the ceiling and lying on the floor. The site-specific installation is titled SW SET 1.

The Quartier des Bains Association was founded in 2005. In the 1990s, the first galleries opened their spaces in an industrial area around Geneva’s rue des Bains. Today, the Quartier des Bains Association consists of 14 galleries and 4 institutions: Galerie Analix Forever, Art & Public, Blancpain Art Contemporain, BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Services, Galerie Patrick Cramer, Jancou, Patricia Low Contemporary, Mitterrand + Cramer, Galerie Charlotte Moser, Ribordy Contemporary, SAKS, Skopia (P-H Jaccaud), TMproject, Xippas Art Contemporain, Mamco (Musée d’art moderne et contemporain), Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Centre de la photographie Genève, and Médiathèque FMAC. In addition to the “Nuits des Bains”, the Quartier des Bains also runs a competition for a public art intervention. The competition is open to artists invited by the association’s members, the Haute école d’art et de design (HEAD), and the Quartier des Bains partners. The artists design banners and flags that are shown in the streets of Geneva and on Geneva’s Mont-Blanc Bridge. This year, Jonathan Monk won the prize. Previous winners were: Sam Samore, Fabrice Gygi, Ryan Gander, Gianni Motti, Das Institut, and Président Vertut. Finally there’s also the Quartier des Bains’ so called “Nocturne” that take place on April 4, and June 6 this year.

Sterling Ruby: Soft Work / Centre d’Art Contemporain, Genève / Nuit des Bains. Geneva / Switzerland, March 15, 2012.

PS: See also: Sterling Ruby: I AM NOT FREE BECAUSE… at Sprüth Magers Berlin.

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