This catalogue documents a collective exhibition program inspired by the writings of Charles Fourier. “L’Écart absolu” is a dialogue between architecture, artistic heritage and contemporary works, in which artists come together, interact and experiment on the edge of design, visual arts, decorative arts and applied arts.

With Karina Bisch, Nicolas Chardon, Marianne Maric, Dominique Mathieu, Syndicat, We Are The Painters, Atelier Van Lieshout, Aline Bouvy & John Gillis, Stanley Brouwn, Stéphane Calais, Jacques Charlier, Meschac Gaba, Marie Goussé, Teresa Margolles, Superflex, Barthélémy Toguo, Danh Vo, Maarten Van Severen

The exhibition catalogue for the Château d’Oiron presents more than 170 artworks from the collection of Antoine de Galbert, placed in such a way as to dialogue with the permanent collection of contemporary art Curios & Mirabilia, assembled by the same Jean-Hubert Martin in 1993. The collection of Antoine de Galbert is deployed in exhibition galleries according to themes inherent to it, with great importance being attached to the eye, the face and its expressions, and to injuries. The confrontation of these two collections and the dialogue established between the two men give rise to new effects of surprise in the catalogue thanks to collages that are as frontal as they are playful. The catalogue displays all of the artworks presented in the space, including From here to ear by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot whose music can be heard within these 16th century walls. A number of artists are featured in both collections: Hubert Duprat, Markus Raetz, Wim Delvoye, Annette Messager, Christian Boltanski, Marina Abramovic, Bertrand Lavier, Nicolas Darrot… Others have onlyrecently entered Oiron: Théo Mercier, Gilles Barbier, Stéphane Thidet, Barthélémy Toguo, Jackie Kayser, Steven Cohen