Fondation Cartier

Born in the Streets—Graffiti

07 Jul - 29 Nov 2009

BORN IN THE STREETS—GRAFFITI

July 7 to November 29, 2009.

The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is pleased to present Born in the Streets—Graffiti, on view from July 7 to November 29, 2009.

Occupying the entire gallery space of the Fondation Cartier, as well as the building’s façade and surrounding garden, the exhibition brings to light the extraordinary development of an artistic movement that was born in the streets of New York in the early 1970s to rapidly become a worldwide phenomenon.
Today, graffiti has entered the cultural mainstream, crossing over to the realms of studio art, design and advertising. Yet, despite its immense popularity, this essentially illegal activity continues to evolve at the periphery of the contemporary art world, its origins and history little-known to the general public.

This exhibition attempts to sketch the general contours of a subject that is vast and complex, a form of expression that has come to embrace many different techniques, ideas and styles.
The exhibition traces the origins of the graffiti movement while offering a panorama of the diversity of contemporary writing. It provides the public with the opportunity to rediscover an art both ubiquitous and continually evolving, and thus relate to the city in a new way.

General Director of the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain
Hervé Chandès

Curators
Leanne Sacramone and Thomas Delamarre
Interns
Meredith Rogers and Floréal Roig

Consultant
Alan Ket (Ket One)

Exhibition Design
Éric Benqué

Coordination
Laetitia Rouiller

Installation Coordinator
Christophe Morizot

Video and Sound
Romain Augros

Lighting
Nicolas Tauveron

Registrar
Alanna Minta Jordan

Technical Advisor
Gilles Gioan
Olivier Lounissi