Three Summer Exhibitions in Nice Explore Transparency, Wallpaper, and Ground-Level Art

In summer 2006, three concurrent exhibitions in Nice, France, offered distinct takes on contemporary art. At Villa Arson, "Intouchable" (July 1–September 24, 2006) curated by Guillaume Désanges and François Piron continued the exploration of transparency in 20th-century art, following a landmark 1995 exhibition at Le Havre's Musée André Malraux curated by Françoise Cohen. The show's subtitle, "L'Idéal transparence," referenced Paul Scheerbart's 1914 text "Glass Architecture," which inspired architects Bruno Taut, Pierre Chareau, and Philip Johnson. Works by thirty artists from the 1960s onward, including David Claerbout's "Shadow Piece" (2005), Hannah Wilke's "Through the Large Glass" (1976), Hans Haacke's "Condensation Cube" (1963), and Martin Arnold's "Deanimated" (2002), engaged critically with transparency's utopian and dystopian dimensions. Meanwhile, "3 D Wallpaper" at Le Dojo (June 29–September 30, 2006), curated by Jérôme Poret, featured wallpaper and 3D installations by about ten artists, including Bertrand Lamarche's "Terrain Ombelliférique" and Vincent Epplay's "Ondulation papier peint #1." At La Station, "Certains travaux doivent être accomplis à la surface du sol" (July 1–October 1, 2006) presented works by four young artists—Émilie Perotto, Bettina Samson, Julien Tibéri, and Sarah Tritz—emphasizing experimental, bricolage approaches.