Started in 2000, ongoing

Geneva, Switzerland

A gallery on top of my car. It is both an art project and a real gallery. I hijack the other galleries' big events so my shows usually only last for one evening. I host 2 to 3 shows per year, during the shows I wear a suit. My car is less chic than the perfect white cube, so it seemed to me a good idea to be better dressed than the other gallerists (many of them wear jeans, sport shoes, and shirt). I also offer my visitors something we call "panaché". It's a mix of lemonade and beer, and this is very cheap to buy (it helps reduce the functioning costs of the gallery...)

Current Contact Info:

Raphaël Julliard, Director
r@raphisme.ch
VW Golf GTX grey, GE 439 599
22 Poterie, 1202 Genève
+41227337504

In 2000 with 6 other art students we opened an exhibition space, in abuilding not mobile, in Lausanne , Switzerland . At the time I really loved being both artist and curator, and in a way my practice as artist is always a blend of these two positions. It also came from a pun in French, where "galerie" is both a kind of exhibition space and the thing you put on your car to hold your skis. The Lausanne space was painful in terms of energy we had to put injust, you know, to keep the group focused, pay the rent on time, fix  everything, and so on. So to do an art space in or on my car, and alone, seemed a little easier...

Themes, Ideas, Strategies:

I like the slow pace of 2 to 3 exibitions a year. no rush. no race for novelty.

Artists, Curators, Collaborators, Conspirators:

For the first show, I asked a friend of mine who is a painter to give me a painting. But because of the form of the exhibition space (my car), many visitors thought I painted it. So I wanted to exhibit something that shows in itself that there is a certain kind of technique (mastered) behind the picture. For the second show, I looked for photographers in my neighbourhood, but didn't really find something appropriate. I'm studying at the CCC programme (critical, curatorial and cybermedia) in Geneva Switzerland . This year we have Moyra Davey, a New York-based Canadian photographer, as an invited professor. She showed us her work, I liked it, and asked her to exhibit. I'm planning to go through that way to find artists for the next shows. There is a lot of galleries here and I'd like to exibit artists that are not in the circuit. Julie Ault and Martin Beck are also professors at the programme and I think I can ask them for artists from the other side of the ocean. I am also open to any proposal...

Shows, Events, Happenings:

September 16th 2004 , Vincent Kohler (CH), painting

March 17th 2005 , Moyra Davey (USA , CAN), photography

Audience, Reactions, Anecdotes, Stories:

There is at least two audiences. The peers, this project is a performance and the art buyers. I have brought Galerie J to the bi- to tri-annual event, ‘Quartier de Bains.' During this event, all galleries are open (and do an actual opening) and art amateurs go from gallery to gallery. Between galleries they are in the street, and there I am too!