Didier Rittener - Storm Breeder

September 22 to December 22 2007
opening hours : from Wednesday to Saturday from 3 to 7 p.m. and by appointment

We’ve anticipated an extraordinary and especially rich start to the new 2007-08 season of art events. We’ve decided to feature for a three-month engagement a largescale solo show devoted to the Swiss artist Didier Rittener. Throughout the show’s run we’ve also scheduled a series of one-off events that include films screenings, performances, debates, a round-table discussion, lectures and concerts.

Didier Rittener, views of the exhibition Storm Breeder, 2007

The project that Rittener especially developed for the attitudes’ space is called Storm Breeder, a reference to a tale of the supernatural by the American writer William Austin (“Peter Rugg, the Missing Man” [1824-1827]). Storm Breeder is a unique work of art that takes the form of drawing covering the whole of the gallery walls, a surface that amounts to around 425 m2 . The individual drawings were initially done in graphite on A4 tracing paper, then scanned and patiently reworked on the computer before being printed out and transferred using a trichlorethylene process to long sheets of wallpaper and finally pasted directly on the walls. The result is compositions that are by turns powerful and contemplative in which a broad range of motifs exist side by side, motifs from Renaissance painting, science-fiction movies, fleeting spots, architectural ornaments, botanical plates, pop or minimalist art, even after images. By constantly remixing formal vocabularies that percolate up from our collective memory, Rittener creates references and cultural quotations that telescope into one another, elaborating a universal and resolutely contemporary visual language.


Didier Rittener, views of the exhibition Storm Breeder, 2007

Although only temporarily installed on our walls, Rittener’s work will also exist as a book made up of two fold-out sections in eleven parts, with a booklet with an original text by Jean-Pierre Criqui and poems by Carla Demierre , which we are publishing as part of our drawing collection. Download the booklet in pdf (1Mo)

Supported by

Didier Rittener (CH, born in 1969, live in Lausanne)
founder member of the association of contemporary art Circuit

solo exhibithions
2007 Storm Breeder, attitudes – espace d'arts contemporains, Genève / I see, I see, I see, Les Halles – centre d'art contemporain, Porrentruy / Apparition, Forum d'art contemporain, Sierre / Dumm, doom, La Rada, Locarno / Révolution, Florence Loewy – Books by artists, Paris / 2006 Parallel Sensation, galerie Evergreene, Genève / Belonged to this world, Galeria artericambi, Verona / 2005 Desert me, Le crédac, centre d’art d’Ivry, Ivry-sur-Seine / Galerie Une, Auvernier, Neuchâtel / Trust Your Instinct, Neue Kunst halle, St-Gallen / Liste 05, Basel, avec Pierre Vadi, galerie Evergreene, Genève / Eccentric Society, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Prix Manor, Lausanne / Inner Space, L’élac, Prix Moët & Chandon, Lausanne /  2004 autre part, intervention évolutive en 3 phases, attitudes - espace d'arts contemporains, Genève / ESF Espace Saint-François, Lausanne / 2003 Mais il était déjà trop tard, Néon, diffuseur d’art contemporain, en résonance à la biennale, Lyon / 2002 nuits blanches, Circuit, Lausanne / 2000 revues, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, Lausanne (commande pour une intervention évolutive) / mouse and, Espace libre - centre PasquART, org. Stéphanie Bédat, Bienne / 1996 amusements domestiques, Galerie Gaxotte, Porrentruy / Centre d’art visuel, Lausanne

group exhibitions (selection)
2007 Untitled, galerie Artericambi, Verona / Fire walk with me, galerie Une, Auvernier, Neuchâtel / Môtiers 2007, art en plein air, Môtiers / Le fonds des arts plastiques de la ville de Lausanne 2002 – 2006, espace Arlaud, Lausanne / Liste 07, Evergreene, Basel / Galerie Lange & Pult, Zürich / Düsseldorf Art Fair, Evergrenne, Düsseldorf / An another group show, Objectif_exhibitions, Anvers / Participation à Wunder Stanza, un projet de Zorro & Bernardo en collaboration avec Sibylle Stoeckli, BAC, Genève / 2006 L’égosystème, 10 ans de la Station (Nice), Confort Moderne, Poitiers / L’art et ses amants, jubilé des 200 ans de la Société Suisse des Beaux-arts, 9/9/06, Ste-Croix / Kunsthalle Palazzo, org.  Antonia Donzé-van Saanen, Liestal / Project Art Centre, Dublin / Here we go, galerie Une, Auvernier, Neuchâtel / Quand la neige fond où va le blanc, org. association du Labo, L’Atelier Soardi, Nice / Swiss Art Awards, Basel / Supernova. expérience Pommery 3, site Pommery, Reims / Vitrine conçue par Catherine Monney à l’occasion de l’exposition d’Alain Huck, musée Jenisch, Vevey / Vom Schweifen der Linien, Seedamm Kulturzentrum, Pfäffikon / Midnight Walkers, Le crédac, centre d’art d’Ivry, Ivry-sur-Seine et Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz / Arte Fiera, Bologna, galerie Arte Ricambi, Verona / 2005 Héros à jamais, Centre Pasqu’Art, Bienne / Swiss Volks, galerie Edward Mitterrand, Genève / Shining Stars Under Shining Sun, Galerie Une, Auvernier, Neuchâtel / Swiss Art Awards, Basel / mitologia presente, I sotterranei dell’arte, Monte Carasso / Cahiers d’artistes, Centro per l’arte moderna e contemporanea, La Spezia / 2004 La partie continue, n°2, Le crédac, centre d’art d’Ivry, Ivry-sur-Seine / Galerie Artericambi, Verona, Artissima 2004, Torino / vivre sa vie, centre d’art en l’Ile, org. Alexia Turlin, Genève / Filiale, Basel / Swiss Art Awards, Basel / Lasko, wallpainting en Suisse, CAN, org. Gauthier Huber, Neuchâtel / Cahiers d'artistes, Museo cantonale d'arte, Lugano / Comment rester zen, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund / Schwarz auf Weiss, org. Katharina Ammann, Kunstmuseum Soleure / Circuito, Galerie Artericambi, Verona / 2003 Buenos días Buenos Aires, org. attitudes, Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires / Lee 3 Tau Ceti Central Armory Show, Villa Arson, Nice / complètement à l’ouest, ZOO Galerie, Nantes / Môtiers 2003, art en plein air, Môtiers / Present Perfect, Galerie & : In Situ, Paris / Comment rester zen, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris / Accrochage - Vaud 2003, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne / 2002 Tigerland, FRAC Basse Normandie, org. Stéphane Magnin, Caen / Swiss Art Awards, Basel / De Zwitser komen, galerie bij de Boeken, Ulft / Huntenkunst, Doetinchem / cache-cache camouflage, mudac, Lausanne / Collection de la BCV, Musée Jenish, Vevey / 2001 Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart / Forde, Genève / Ecole supérieure des beaux-arts, Tours / 2000 Platfform für zeitgenössische kunst, Lucerne / Hotel Löwengraben, Lucerne / Immanence, Paris / circuit/connexe, Galerie EOF, Paris / 1999 Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris / 9.0, Galerie du Web bar, Paris / circuit, Kunstsalon Celeste & Eliot, Zurich / Galerie EOF, Paris / Morphingeneva, Mire, Genève / carte blanche 3, l’Atelier sur l’autoroute, St-Denis, Paris / Nouvelle Galerie, Grenoble

monographic publications
2007 Storm Breeder, édition attitudes, collection dessin, Genève / 2005 Didier Rittener, Prix Manor, jrp – ringier éditions / 2004 Libre de droits, dessins 2001 – 2004, éditeurs : Ecole supérieure des beaux-arts, attitudes – espace d’arts contemporains, Centre pour l’image contemporaine, Saint-Gervais, Genève / 2002 Didier Rittener, Collection Cahiers d’Artistes, Fondation suisse pour la culture Pro Helvetia / 2001 on speed, dessins, photocopies sur papier recyclé, production personnelle, Lausanne / 1997 color, dessins géométriques & dessins subjectifs, édition de l’Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne.