Thierry Geoffroy | Colonel: A PROPULSIVE RETROSPECTIVE. Format Art | Awareness Muscle | Emergency Art | Ultracontemporary | Biennalist | Moving Exhibitions | Critical Run | Delay Museum | Apathy Lab | Extracteur

Following his solo exhibition, THE AWARENESS MUSCLE TRAINING CENTER, Villa Stuck and Snoeck are delighted to present the first comprehensive monograph of THIERRY GEOFFROY / COLONEL. The multifaceted work of the conceptual artist, who was born in Nancy (France) in 1961, can be traced here over more than four decades. He is probably best known for the formats of his EMERGENCY ART.
"Thierry Geoffroy/ Colonel: A Propulsive Retrospective" presents 22 different Art Formats, including EMERGENCY ROOM, CRITICAL RUN and BIENNALIST, which he has presented in institutions around the world. Geoffroy describes his Format Art as an artistic response to globalisation, offering the individual a form of self-expression that can be called up again and again, enabling everyone to respond to emergencies and real problems in the here and now.
Through format art and other ULTRACONTEMPORARY art concepts, Geoffroy has attempted to address social and political grievances and has also shown how artists can find solutions. This monograph analyses the forms that Geoffroy's art has taken from its beginnings to the present day, with chapters devoted to his photography, painting, language-based works, media art and exhibition platforms.
In this monograph, art historians and long-time collaborators of the artist offer in-depth analyses of his artistic practice, i.e. his mobility and flexibility as well as his constant endeavour to be one step "ahead" of chance and his time. Accompanied by more than 1,000 illustrations, their contributions show how carefully Geoffroy conceived his works to convey and channel messages on the themes of identity, migration, war, propaganda or climate change. A comprehensive chronology of Geoffroy's work, listing his numerous exhibitions and interventions at countless institutions and events, reveals the artist's breadth and ongoing ambition to sensitise people to their true potential for action in the face of crises.
Geoffroy's prolific output, strongly driven by a sense of urgency, is nevertheless characterised by conviviality, generosity and, above all, a sense of harmony. Geoffroy's work is strategically frontal, poetic, humorous, critical of himself and institutions, but also deeply personal. His irrepressible energy has led to an art movement of his own, centred on "Emergency Art", which questions the state of "delay" that paralyses contemporary art and the world around it.
The subtitle of this monograph, "A Propulsive Retrospective", stands for the "forward-looking" character of this publication, with which the past is condensed and analysed and at the same time wants to contribute to further advancing the mission of combating apathy in the future. The publication will be accompanied by a series of international presentations and seminars in which the theses of Geoffroy's work will be presented, further promoted, researched and deepened.