Ceysson & Bénétière

Born in 1980, in Saint - Étienne, France.

Lives and works in Paris, France.

   Presentation

Momein's practice is based on the study of trivial and functional objects, such as agricultural equipment to shoe cows with slippers, cotton bath towels and living room couches, and develops through several stages of work. It begins with spotting objects, which thus also implies spotting acts and techniques This almost anthropological observation is associated with a kind of learning process, because he wants to understand and master these acts, learn how to use the machines, collaborate with workers and craftsmen-in short, prepare himself to make, unmake and remake these objects and carry forward these techniques even if that means augmenting them. 

   Education

MFA, Haute École d'Art et de Design, Geneva, Switzerland

MFA, Ecole supérieure d'art et de design de Saint-Etienne, France

BFA, Ecole supérieure d'art et de design de Saint-Etienne, France

   Awards

2015    Prix des Amis de l'Institut d'art contemporain de Villeurbanne Jeune Création 2015

2013    Prix de la Fondation Liechti pour les Arts

             Aide à un projet individuel, Mairie de Paris / Direction des affaires culturelles

2012    Bourse du Fonds Cantonal d'Art Contemporain de Genève,

             pour les diplômés de la Haute École d'Art et de Design de Genève

2011    Prix Edouard Barbe

             Prix Golden parachute

   Residencies

2019    ResidenceTour Saint-Ange, Colette Tornier, Seyssins, France

2015    Cité internationale des arts, Paris, France

2014    La Galerie, Centre d'art contemporain, Noisy-le-Sec, France

             Résidence Molly-Sabata, Sablons, France

2013    Résidence Astérides, Marseille, France 

   Public collections

MRAC, Sérignan, France

FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France

Fonds d’art contemporain - Paris Collections, France

Collection départementale d’art contemporain de la Seine-Saint-Denis, France

INSTRUMENT OBJECTS

Momein's practice is based on the study of trivial and functional objects, such as agricultural equipment to shoe cows with slippers, cotton bath towels and living room couches, and develops through several stages of work. It begins with spotting objects, which thus also implies spotting acts and techniques This almost anthropological observation is associated with a kind of learning process, because he wants to understand and master these acts, learn how to use the machines, collaborate with workers and craftsmen-in short, prepare himself to make, unmake and remake these objects and carry forward these techniques even if that means augmenting them. The objects are instrumentalized, quite literally, through this process of learning and the modifications to the manufacturing techniques involved and other changes that may include rescaling, repositioning, reworking, the addition of constraints or new fabrication rules.


THE SOUL OF OBJECTS

When functional objects become instruments they lose their original utility, but the acts and techniques that produced them remain unchanged. By becoming instrumentalized they open up to new forms that we could, if we wanted to, call "sculptures" or "artworks," even though that sort of trans- formation is not really what this artist seeks. His aim is above all to give objects new resonances. In this he is continuing a tradition that goes back to a famous incident in art history. A meeting at the Disney Studios in 1930 brought together Oskar Fischinger, an exile from Nazi Germany, and John Cage, then a very young composer still seeking a general orientation for his work. According to historical accounts the two men had a brief but decisive exchange of words that can be resumed by Fischinger's advice to the younger man the soul of objects must be revealed. It may be that a distant echo of this advice somehow reached Momein, and that he decided to follow it not in the domain of sound but, as a sculpter, by applying it to objects themselves, in a very personal fashion
How should we understand this imperative in regard to the experiments undertaken by this young artist' Mis approach is literally materialist, following the example of the making of stringed instruments-a violin, cello, viola or bass-whose "soul," as it's called, is the little piece of wood that brings the various parts of the instrument into tension and allows the whole thing to vibrate. If we accept this definition we can deduce an artistic practice in which the artist seeks to insert a soul into objects in order to reveal them to themselves. We would have to recreate the act by which a craftsman uses a small piece of carved wood to impart a new power and radiance to formerly inanimate objects. That is exactly what Momein seeks to do.

Christophe Khim, translation L-S Torgoff

Solo shows at Ceysson Gallery
Nicolas Momein, Panéry, Pouzilhac
April 13 - June 15, 2024

Nicolas Momein, New York
May 04 - June 17, 2023

NICOLAS MOMEIN, Paris
March 25 - May 29, 2021

Nicolas Momein , Saint-Etienne
April 18 - June 01, 2019

Nicolas Momein, Wandhaff
January 14 - March 25, 2017

NICOLAS MOMEIN, Genève
March 19 - May 23, 2015


Group shows at Ceysson Gallery
Spring Saint-Étienne, Saint-Etienne
June 12 - July 25, 2020

Spring Paris, Paris
May 18 - July 23, 2020

Scar/face, Paris
June 28 - August 04, 2018

Sculptures, Matters, Materials, Textures..., Offsite
September 10 - October 16, 2016

Cession, Saint-Etienne
May 21 - August 02, 2015

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Solo show

2019
Finger Trap, commissaire d’exposition : Anne Favier, Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière, Saint-Étienne, France

2017
Galerie Bernard Ceysson, Wandhaff, Luxembourg
Topknots, Villa du Parc, Annemasse, France

2016
Les déplaceuses, Galerie White Project, Paris, France
Every one is light, You are light, L'Onde - Centre d'art, Vélizy-Villacoublay, France

2015
Jargons, Galerie Bernard Ceysson, Geneva, Switzerland
Coup de pouce, caoutchouc pouce, Les églises de Chelles, France
Steady sideslip, Fondation Rivoli2, Milan, Italy
Pegar, Galerie Roger Tator, Lyon, France

2014
Walk like an Egyptian, Galeries nomades, Chateau Musée, Tournon-sur-Rhônes, France
Débords, Zoo Galerie, Nantes, France

2013
Sacré Géranium, Galerie White project, Paris, France
Quelques objet secs, Espace Kugler, Geneva, Switzerland

2012
Aire de famille, Galerie White Project, Paris, France

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Group shows

2020
Printemps , Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière, Paris, France
Printemps , Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière, Saint-Étienne, France

2019
Flaques, fantômes et le voisin, ÉSAD, Grenoble, France
Là où les eaux se mêlent, Biennale de Lyon Art contemporain, usines Fagor Halle 2, Lyon, France
Kaluchua, curated by Martina Sabbadini et Mattia Solari, Barriera, Turino, Italy
Été pourri peinture fraîche, curated by Marie Griffay, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France

2018
The Dialectic of the Stars, Fahrenheit, Los Angeles, USA

2017
Corps sans tête, un lendemain difficile, Maëlle galerie, Paris, France
Sunday Scaries, 22,48 m², Paris, France

2016
Sculptures, Matières, Matériaux, Textures..., Galerie Bernard Ceysson, Foetz, Luxembourg
Le temps de l'audace et de l'engagement, Exposition en partenariat avec l'ADIAF, Institut d'Art contemporain, Villeurbanne, France
Sofia Borges - Clément Cogitore - Nicolas Momein - Arnaud Vasseux, Galerie White Project, Paris, France

2015
Bourses Déliées, Halles Nord, Geneva, Switzerland
Dendrites, macles, grains ou inclusions, Salle Crosnier, Palais de l'Athénée, Geneva, Switzerland

2014
DRUM & BASS, Isochrone, Lille, France
Les Mythologies Quotidiennes, Église Saint-Maur de Courmelois, Val-de-Vesle, France
Le geste des matériaux, Centre d'Art Bastille, Grenoble, France
Clarence le lion qui louchait, en collaboration avec Johen Dehn, Seulgi Lee, Céline Vaché-Olivieri, Les Capucins, Centre d'art d'Embrun, France
Pop-Up, Friche de la Belle de Mai, Marseille, France
Adieu tristesse, désir, ennui, appétit, plaisir, La Galerie, Centre d'Art contemporain, Noisy-le-Sec, France

2013
Rendez-Vous 13, Jeune création internationale, Institut d'Art contemporain, Villeurbanne, France
Atelier des testeurs, Chalet Society, Paris, France
Vous aussi vous avez l'air conditionné, La Galerie du 5ème, Marseille, France
Andrew ?, La Galerie, Centre d'Art contemporain, Noisy-le-sec, France
Lauréats de l'expositions de Noël 2011, Magasin - Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France
Spéculons Nebuloos, Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles, Belgique
Local Line 13, Musée d'Art moderne, Saint-Etienne, France

2012
Fête le mur,, Prix la palette
In Absent Places We Dwell, organisé par Vianney Fivel, Ceel Mogami de Haas, Marie-Eve Knoerle, Espace Piano Nobile, Geneva, Switzerland
La tradition du dégoût, organisé par Vincent Labaume, Galerie Christophe Gaillard, Paris, France
Rencontres Horizon Art Nature Massif du Sancy, Région Auvergne, France
Etrange été, commissaire d'exposition : Stéphane Corréard, Galerie White Projects, Paris, France
Salon de Montrouge, commissaire d'exposition : Stéphane Cornard, Montrouge, France
Musée de l'art extraterrestre, Haute école d'Art, Geneva, Switzerland

2011
Exposition de Noël, Prix Edouard Barbe, organisée par le Magasin, Ancien Musée de peinture, Grenoble, France
Version des faits dans le cadre de Imergencia, Institut Français, Lisbon, Portugal
Vue sur la mer, Place des volontaires, Geneva, Switzerland
Le Slurm, Initié par Christophe Kihm et Marc-Olivier Wahler, Institut curatorial - la Head, Geneva, Switzerland
Flaubert's castle, HISK open studio, Gent, Belgium

2010
Biennale de Design Saint-Etienne, France
Ostensions - Travail de l'archive, archive du travail, Palais de l'Athénée, Geneva, Switzerland
Tu vas l'aimer dans la rigueur n'est pas une valeur sûre, Galerie NSPP, Saint Étienne, France
L'axe du mal, organisé par Pierre Leguillon, Auditurium Fondation Arditi, Geneva, Switzerland

2012
Vincent Labeaume, Aire de famille, Dans Carnet d'art- Revue Tout Prévoir, 2012.
Gas Barthel, Des poils de monsieur tout le monde à ceux du mammouth il n'y a qu'un pas, in La rigueur n'est pas une valeur sûre, Édition La cibelle, pp 345, 2012.

2013
Pierre Tillet, La goutte, le white cube et la ronde, 2013.
Christophe Kihm, Nicolas Momein, ArtPress, oct. 2013.

2014
Julie Portier, des sculptures, par exemple, dec. 2014.
François Durit, Travailler par affinités, 2014.

2015
Vincent Labeaume, Le Designer d'après, 2015.