Acacia Seeds

With Clémentine Adou, Afra Al Dhaheri, Simone Fattal, Tamo Jugeli, Valentina Liernur, Ren Light Pan, Anastasia Pavlou, Ser Serpas, Minh Lan Tran.

The collective exhibition Acacia Seeds borrows its title from a science fiction short story by Ursula K. Le Guin – The Author of the Acacia Seeds and Other Extracts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics (1974). The “therolinguists” dedicate themselves to the study and the interpretation of idioms and writings produced by animals, plants, and possibly lichens, rocks, as well as any living or inanimate beings. Compiled into what appears to be a published collection of scientific documents from an indefinite time in the future, this novella steeped in humour defies the human conception of art and language.

With the same perspective in mind, Acacia Seeds proposes a group of artworks that function by manifestation rather than representation. The various practices brought together suggest the possibility of understanding things on their own terms, and question the legitimacy of certain discourses at the expense of others.

Ursula K. Le Guin invites us to decenter our gaze and renew a contingent way of thinking – subject to history, society, oneself, etc – so as to embrace the potentialities of a kind of poetics that is neither kinetic nor expressive, without figure nor alphabet, operating in a non-sequential manner and untied from time. Each exhibited piece develops its own inner lexicon which, although never entirely disconnected from its physical and emotional environment, operates through its presence rather than a linear narrative. While the pieces on display avoid figuration, they still distance themselves from a modernist definition of abstraction – often a Western, masculine and liberal one – and challenge the notion that abstraction should exclusively be assigned to the realm of the speculative. 

By defocusing from humankind and through fragmentation, the artworks simultaneously offer communication and uncertainty. Together they create a funnel-shaped liminal space where everything is absorbed, digested, and reassembled into a multitude of potential narratives – plausible, though more or less intelligible. Acacia Seeds sheds light on the ever-shifting (since it remains alive) terrain of cultural perspectives and weaves an aesthetic of empathy and memory that develops through stacking and stratification.

Clémentine Adou was born in 1988 in Paris, France where she lives and works. 

She has been the subject of solo or duo exhibitions at Bains-Douches, Alençon, FR; in Tonus, Paris, FR; at DOC, Paris, FR; at Palette Terre, Paris, FR; at 76.4, Brussels, BE. Group exhibitions include La Salle de Bains, Lyon, FR; Thirteen, Paris, FR; Colette Mariana, Barcelona, ES; Florence Loewy, Paris, FR; Bel Ami Los Angeles, USA; Shivers Only, Paris, FR; High Art, Paris, FR. In 2024, she is nominated for the 25th prize of the Pernod Ricard Foundation

Afra Al Dhaheri was born in 1988 in Abu Dhabi, UAE where she lives and works.

Her works have been exhibited at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, UAE; at Green Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE; at S T+ H Gallery, Boston, MA; at the Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah, UAE; at the Misk Art Institute, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; at Fabbrica del Vapore, Milano, IT; to Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium; at Cromwell Place, London, UK; at the Middle East Institute, Washington, USA.

Simone Fattal was born in 1942 in Damascus, Syria and lives and works in Paris, France.

She is the recipient of 2024 Berlin Art Grand Prize and Julio González International Prize. Among recent solo and duo exhibitions: at the Secession, Vienna, AT (coming 2024); at IVAM, Valencia, ES (coming 2024); at KINDL, Berlin, DE; at Ocean Space, Venice, IT; at Portikus, Frankfurt, DE; at the Fondazione Dalle Nogare, Bolzano, IT; at Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK; at ICA Milano, Milan, IT; at Bergen Kunsthall, NW; at MoMA PS1, New York, USA; at the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, Marrakech, MAR. Institutional group exhibitions include the 59th Venice Biennale, IT; Gropius Bau, Berlin, DE; the Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, LBN; the 12th Berlin Biennale, DE; the 16th Biennale of Lyon, FR; the MAM - Museum of Modern Art in Paris, FR; the Punta Della Dogana, Pinault Collection, Venice, IT; the New Museum, New York, USA and the Sharjah Biennale, UAE.

Tamo Jugeli was born in 1994 in Tbilisi, Georgia and lives and works in New York, United States. Her works have been exhibited at Polina Berlin, New York, USA; Gallery Artbeat, Tbilisi, GE; TBC Concept, Tbilisi, GE; Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography, Mestia, GE among others.

Valentina Liernur was born in 1979 in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she lives and works. Recent exhibitions include: Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK and Hong Kong; Juro Que, Simon Lee Gallery; Isla Flotante, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Galerie Neu, Berlin, DE; Reena Spaulings Gallery, New York USA; Campoli Presti Gallery, Paris, USA; MOCAD, Detroit, USA.

Ren Light Pan was born in 1990 in Irvine, USA and she lives and works in New York. 

Her works have been exhibited at Queer Thoughts, New York, USA; at Jessamin, Dallas, USA; at Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, USA; at Martos Gallery, New York, USA; at Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong; at the Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, USA; and to Asia Society Texas, Houston, USA.

Anastasia Pavlou was born in 1993 in Athens, Greece and lives and works between Basel, Switzerland and Athens, Greece. Her works have been exhibited at the Kunstmuseum, Appenzell, CH; at Harmony 100, Basel, CH; at Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, CH; at Hot Wheels, London, UK and Athens, GR; at Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, CH; at the Benaki Museum, Athens, GR, among others.

Ser Serpas was born in 1995 in Los Angeles, USA and lives and works in New York. 

She has been the subject of personal exhibitions at the Bourse de Commerce, Paris, FR; at the Swiss Institute, New York, USA; at LUMA Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland; to LC Queisser Tblisi, GE; to Barbara Weiss, Berlin, DE among others. Her work has also been the subject of group exhibitions at the Whitney Biennial, at the Whitney Museum, New York, USA; at CAC Geneva, Geneva, CH; at Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples, IT; at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA and at the Geneva Biennale. She is the recipient of the 2023 Reiffers Art Initiatives Prize.

Minh Lan Tran was born in 1997 in Hong Kong and lives and works in Paris. 

Her works have been exhibited at Jan Kaps, Cologne, DE; at Harlesden High Street, London, UK; at the Museum of the Home, London, UK; at the Royal College of Art, London, UK; at House of Annetta, London; UK and at the San Mei Gallery, London; UK, among others.