Always Someone Asleep and Someone Awake

From December 1st, 2017 to February 25th, 2018 Galerie des Galeries hosts an exhibition curated by Arlène Berceliot Courtin around the theme of celebration: the sometimes predictable, sometimes improvised celebration of all things prosaic – and of special occasions. Entitled Always Someone Asleep and Someone Awake, this exhibition explores the codes and languages of partying, events and celebrations at present and future time. Today has got to be a special day but how exactly, should it be celebrated? Perhaps a permanent or temporary, moving and progressive ceremony, that could be celebrated each year at a xed or changing date, where there would always be “Someone asleep and someone awake/Someone dreaming asleep someone dreaming awake”1. Or perhaps it could be a spontaneous gathering, orchestrated by the wish of a common struggle or chorus.
The project invites French and international artists from di erent generations: Anne Collier, Ceal Floyer, Liam Gillick and Gabriel Kuri, Robert Heinecken, Amy O’Neill, Pierre Paulin, Bruno Serralongue, and seeks to shed light on our collective imagery and evokes a sense of the moveable feast, thus enabling a reinterpretation or recreation of the partying syndrome, between deep delight and duller tomorrow.

Arlène Berceliot Courtin is an independent art critic and curator, based in Paris. She recently curated exhibitions at Galerie Allen (Paris) and Air de Paris (Paris). Since 2011, she has collaborated with artist-run spaces such as Shanaynay (Paris), Moins Un (Paris), La Salle de bains (Lyon) and PSM Gallery (Berlin). She regularly sits on the jury of French and international artists’ residency programs, including Institut français. She is also writing in the specialized art press in France.