Région Sud Art Prize Showroom 2024
Since its beginnings, Art-o-rama has been committed to participating in the professionalization of young artists and allows them to encounter different actors of the art world – curators, gallery owners, critics, collectors…
Each year with the Région Sud Prize, Art-o-rama offers visibility to the young creation from Art Schools of the Région Sud, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The Région Sud Art Prize is aimed at artists who have graduated within the last 5 years from one of the art schools of Région Sud.
The Showroom section highlights the work of 4 artists selected by a curator. The curator accompanies them in the presentation of their work, produces a critical text and introduces the artists to the gallery owners and publishers participating in the fair. They will then choose the Région Sud Prize laureate of the year.
The following year, this artist will benefit from an exhibition space in the main section of Art-o-rama following a two-months residency within the Moly-Sabata / Albert Gleizes Foundation. The artist will be the recipient of a 2000€ production grant and a catalog will be published. Since 2021, the Show-room artists benefit from a new residency program created by a regional network of art centers and venues from the Région. The 3 other artists will then each partake in one of the following residencies: Centre d’Arts Plastiques Fernand Léger de Port-de-Bouc, Centre d’Art Contemporain de Châteauvert et Voyons-Voir, art contemporain & territoire.
The Région Sud Prize often stands as a first experience for artists in a commercial environment of international scope and allows the galleries participating in Art-o-rama to discover artists who were formed in our region. It is a real platform of professionalization putting forward their work to a large public, as much amateur as professional. It is an opportunity for meetings, often sales and first collaborations with galleries.
Francesco Tenaglia – 2024 curator
Francesco Tenaglia is an educator in criticism and art theory at Bauer and the Nuova Accademia delle Belle Arti (NABA) in Milan. He is an independent curator and co-founder and artistic director at the exhibition space, Sgomento Zurigo, based in Zurich. His writings have been featured in various publications, including Flash Art, Frieze, ArtReview, Mousse (where he served as editor-in-chief), and Spike (where he holds the position of contributing editor).
Artists selected for Art-o-rama 2024
Théo Combaluzier
Born in 1999 in Privas (Ardèche), Théo Combaluzier lives and works in Ardèche. He graduates in 2023 after 5 years of studies at Villa Arson (in Nice), where he decided to return to the countryside where he grew up to continue and get closer to the themes he explores in his research. His artistic work materializes into forms he composes and considers as textures in the sense of surfaces, aiming to simulate materials and gestures extracted from memories and events he has witnessed. Drawn from a vocabulary of familiar images specific to our territories, our medium-sized towns, our villages, and our roads, his sculptures originate from an aesthetic search for the commemoration of places and domestic, rural, and urban objects.
Noria Kaouadji
Noria Kaouadji, born in 1996, lives and works in Marseille.
In 2018, she graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art et de Design de Nancy with a bachelor’s degree in art. There, she develops a practice of installation, image and volume. She continued her research at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie d’Arles, graduating in 2023. Here, she develops a practice that places spaces and images in tension, in a variety of forms that explore the off-screen, abstraction and matter. She sees the exhibition space as an ongoing photographic experience.
Cassandra Naigre
Born in 1996, in Montreuil, Cassandra Naigre is a french/guadeloupean multi-disciplinary artist.They have first studied at the Ecole Boulle in the Environmental Architectural Construction department. They graduated from the Painting Department in the Fine Art school of Marseille in 2021. They also completed a program exchange at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in the restoration-conservation of the Painting department.Cassandra Naigre works both in France and West Indies Islands. Their art pieces have been shown in marseillan galeries, Avignon, Berlin, along an art trail near from Mont-Ventoux, at the Briançon’s Contemporary Art Center in 2022 and at the occasion of Biennale of Mulhouse for young artists in 2023. Their last art project called “Être.s de silence” is supported this year by les Ateliers Médicis for a three-month art residency in Martinique. They are currently in a residency with the art-program Artagon Marseille 2024-2025.
Marie Perraud
Born in Tarare (69) in 1997, Marie Perraud lives and works in Marseille (13), by doing installations with sculptures and videos.
In 2018 she got her bachelor of Plastic Arts in Jean Monnet University, Saint-Etienne (42). In 2020, she got her DNA in the Fine Arts School of Marseille (13), and her DNSEP with mentions in 2022. She participated at different groups shows in Marseille, started with « Sur pierres brûlantes » in La Friche Belle de Mai, 2020, thanks to the invitation of Madison Bycroft. Then, still in La Friche Belle de Mai, 2022, she participated at « Habitacles », the graduate show from the fine art school of Marseille, and « Murmurations » organised by Fræme, with Mastic Collectif of which she is a part. She participated the same year for « TOUT CONFORT » in Flux Tendu Marseille, curated by Lili-Jeanne Benente. Then, in 2023, she showed her work in La Villette, Paris (75) for « 100% L’EXPO » curated by Inès Geoffroy, and in Ateliers Jeanne Barret, Marseille for « Ectoplasme » during Provence Art Contemporain, curated by Pierre-Laurent Cassière. She did « ROUVRIR LE MONDE » in La Collection Lambert, Avignon (84), thanks to Tiphanie Romain, and also « HOLIDAYS’ART » the same year, and, she will do « ROUVRIR LE MONDE » in La Collection Lambert this year too. She recently showed videos she made in Tokyo during a Creators Scramble Market, Tokyo, Shibuya Sakura Stage.
