CAC Brétigny

“hmm hmm”
sophie rogg invites Cecil Serres, Fatma Cheffi, Milana Gabriel, Nastassia Kotava and Rafael Moreno.
Exhibition at Théâtre Brétigny
Opening on Saturday, October 1st
As part of “What are we waiting for?” (Qu’est-ce qu’on attend ?) cycle (September-December)


A Saturday in July 2022
The sun is shining. On three tables placed sensibly under the trees in the shade, sophie sets out vegetables and jars. Neighbours of the Cheptainville library join us with produce from their gardens. Everybody together, we grate, we chop and we talk. Witches come to tell us tales that unfold at nighttime, in vegetable patches or the forest. While they recount the adventures of Nasreddin, a loveable rascal, our carrot monsters come to life.

July 2022 (still)
The heat is overwhelming. With Alaïs, Aymeric, Chloé, Ewen, Lola, Pauline, Karell and Sandy, we invent nocturnal characters, then a story. It begins with a party in the forest in La Tuilerie, near Breuillet, and ends in several bloody deaths. At around one in the morning, guided through the darkness by Nicolas, we meet ghosts and creatures that appear from behind bushes. Screams ring out through the woods. Trembling and whispering, we turn back. The moon keeps watch. Wrapped up in our sleeping bags, we share marshmallows and watch a teen horror film.

An evening in August 2022
sophie invites me to hers for dinner. It is there that I meet Cecil, Fatma and Natassia. Milana finished work too late to join us. They make up the team chosen by sophie to go and try to survive in the forest. During the evening, we discuss this invitation as if it were a call for artists to help and support each other. In response to Théâtre Brétigny’s themed cycled “What are we waiting for?” (Qu’est-ce qu’on attend ?), this group exhibition expresses a desire to actually do something and for collection action. I sense that there is an appetite for doing things together. For experimenting. For seeing how, in the moment, one person’s work can offer the other reciprocal strength. And I can feel that sophie wants to be accompanied in deciding between being happy and/or spicing things up.

The next day
sophie calls me. She wants to ask Rafael to join the group. sophie has lots of intuitions like that. I trust her. I add these few sentences to my text in the night.

For September 2022
After a summer in Essonne that was inspired by the narrative force of nights and teenage laziness, the exhibition “hmm hmm” is taking shape like a dream. Waking up, we only remember images, and from these fragments, we reconstitute the strange story we dreamt. In the Phare room, voices echo with “Skrr” or “Skuu”, deformed bodies twist, bean monsters rot, pencil drawings are eaten, Coke cans are strewn about.  

Camille Martin,
Curator of the exhibition
 

Camille Martin was born in 1995 and grew up in Corbeil-Essonnes. She lives and works in Ivry-sur-Seine.

Cecil Serres was born in 1991 in Yvelines. They live and work in Paris region.

Fatma Cheffi was born in 1987 in Tunis, Tunisia. She lives and works between Tunis and the Paris region.

Milana Gabriel was born in 1995 in Makhachkala, Russia. She lives and works in Paris.

Nastassia Kotava was born in 1990 in Minsk, Belarus. She lives and works in Paris.

Rafael Moreno was born in 1993 in Colombia. They live and work in the Paris region.

sophie rogg was born in 1989 in Geneva, Switzerland. She lives and works in Seine-Saint-Denis.

“hmm hmm” is part of the “Contrat d'Éducation Artistique et Culturelle” (CTEAC) of Cœur d'Essonne Agglomération with the DRAC Île-de-France and the Academy of Versailles. It benefits from the support of the program “Création en Essonne”, of the DRAC Île-de-France and the Essonne department. “hmm hmm” encompasses actions led by sophie rogg in collaboration with the Médiathèque de Cheptainville and the centre de loisirs Oxy'Jeunes of Breuillet. The CAC Brétigny is a cultural establishment of Cœur d'Essonne Agglomeration. Labeled as a Contemporary Art Center of National Interest, it benefits from the support of the Ministère de la Culture—DRAC Île-de-France, Région Île-de-France and Conseil départemental de l’Essonne, with the complicity of the Brétigny-sur-Orge's municipality. CAC Brétigny is a member of TRAM and d.c.a.