Schools

From 4 September to 15 December 2024:
Exhibition Palonegro by Luis Carlos Tovar

The Centre de la photographie Genève presents the exhibition Palonegro by Colombian artist Luis Carlos Tovar. The project, developed over several years of research between Colombia and Switzerland, is Tovar’s most recent work. It investigates a specific chapter in the history of violence in Colombia: the Thousand Days War (1899-1902), its ninth civil war, and more specifically the brutal Battle of Palonegro (May 11-25, 1900), which took place near the city of Bucamaranga in the northeastern department of Santander.

For this project, the artist researched and exhumed little-known, understudied archives from numerous private and public Swiss and Colombian sources, including those of the Red Cross, the Bibliothèque de Genève as well as declassified military files from the Colombian Ministry of War. Through his work, Luis Carlos Tovar attempts to redefine these photographic archives as “bodies to be healed”. Through an approach of symbolic repair, he intends to propose a way of healing the individual and collective memory of the traumas and wounds of Colombian history.

THEMES AND DISCIPLINES

The visits address some of the central issues of the exhibition in an accessible and age-appropriate way. The number and complexity of the themes vary according to the age of the pupils. It does not directly include images of violence or images likely to be shocking to young audiences. In all cases, the visit is based on the photographs and videos made by the artist.

Questions addressed during the visit include, depending on the age of the pupils:

• The Battle of Palonegro: why did the battle happen? What was the context of the Thousand Days War between the Colombian Liberal Party and the Colombian Conservative Party?
• How can archive images be used to tell historical events? How does the artist use them to create a body of work? How did he gain access to these archives?
• Image reappropriation: which techniques and visual strategies does the artist use to (re) tell the historical and traumatic story, and why?
• History of violence in Colombia: how does the artist address difficult topics such as war and violence? In which way does he convey these events to the visitors to the show?
• Yesterday and today: how do we cope in the present with the past? Are there ways to heal the wounds of history? In what ways do the contemporary images created by the artist coexist with the archival material? The meaning of memory, and how is it passed down through the ages.

Depending on the age of the pupils, the subjects and themes covered during the visit include:

• History in Colombia at the beginning of the 20th century, geopolitics
• Memory, war narratives, care
• Archives and archival images
• Photography, art

Venue: Centre de la photographie Genève, 28 Rue des Bains, 1205 Geneva

Dates: 4 September 2024 to 15 December 2024

Hours: Visits with the facilitator by reservation only from Monday to Friday between 9:00 and 18:00 (school groups can be welcomed outside the Centre de la photographie Genève opening hours). Tours without a facilitator are also possible. Reservations are necessary outside the museum’s public opening hours (Monday to Sunday 11:00 -18:00).

Age: all school degrees from 10 years old (5P)

Duration of the visit: 45 minutes

Languages: French or English

Price: free for classes

Reservation: via the online form

Further information: by email at visites@centrephotogeneve.ch or by phone at 022 329 28 35

Preparatory visit: Admission is free for teachers wishing to prepare a visit with their class. The preparatory visit is possible during the public opening hours of the Centre de la photographie Genève, from Monday to Sunday from 11:00 to 18:00

FURTHER INFORMATION

The detailed description of the exhibition and the mediation offer is available (in French) in this PDF file.

From 4 October to 31 December 2024:
Collective exhibition When images take care at the Maison de l’enfance et de l’adolescence (HUG)

The Centre de la photographie Genève shows the works of Sabine Hess and Daniel Jack Lyons at the Maison de l’enfance et de l’adolescence (HUG), in collaboration with the Fondation Convergences.

Sabine Hess’s project, You Felt the Roots Grow, was created during the long illness and subsequent death of her father. Softly, almost silent, her images speak both of bereavement and of the profoundly human experience – common to almost all of us – of loss and sadness. During this time, the artist was torn by contrasting emotions, her sister becoming a mother while her father’s health declined. Witnessing a new life coming into being while another was fading redefined her understanding of time – and made her more aware of the fragility of life. You Felt the Roots Grow was created in this moment of hope and sorrow. It’s about her own experience as a daughter, of confronting the bitter sweetness of ephemerality, as well as the poetry of loss and the incompleteness of memory.

Like a River, by American photographer Daniel Jack Lyons, was created over a three year period, during several trips by the artist to the Brazilian Amazon, in collaboration with young people from indigenous communities. The photographer and activist has a long history of paying particular attention to communities that are under-represented or marginalised in society, and this photographic series is certainly no exception. In this series, he explores issues of identity, transformation and coming of age, in particular by working with queer and trans people. He invites us to gently, discreetly and sensitively enter their environment and intimacy.

This exhibition is the result of the first collaboration between the Fondation Convergences and the Centre de la photographie Genève, who have designed it specifically for the Maison de l’enfance et de l’adolescence. The exhibition programme will continue throughout 2025.

THEMES AND DISCIPLINES

The visits address some of the central issues of the exhibition in an accessible and age-appropriate way. The number and complexity of the themes vary according to the age of the pupils. In all cases, the visit is based on the photographs made by the artists.

Questions addressed during the visit include, depending on the age of the pupils:

• Disappearance and remembrance: how can images be used to express the absence of loved ones? How does photography relate to the loved ones who have disappeared? And how do we tell a difficult story?
• Bonds and relationships: what connects us to our loved ones and to others? What makes us feel safe and supported? What is left after someone has gone? How do our origins shape us?
• Self-representation: how do we talk about ourselves and our own history through photography? How do we construct our identities, between cultural heritage and contemporaneity? How do the people in the photographs collaborate with the photographer?
• The visible and the unseen: how do we talk about something we can’t see? Can you express emotions through a still image? What do we share with others and what do we decide to keep to ourselves?

Depending on the age of the pupils, the subjects and themes covered during the visit include:

• Care, memory, remembrance, grief, emotions
• Self-representation, portraiture
• Family and interpersonal relationships
• Photography, video, art

Venue: Maison de l’enfance et de l’adolescence, Boulevard de la Cluse 26, 1205 Geneva

Dates: November 4 to 30, 2024
Reception from November 4, 2024

Hours: Visits with the facilitator by reservation only from Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Tours without a facilitator are also possible. Reservations are necessary.

Age: all school degrees from 8 years old (5P)

Duration of the visit: 35 minutes + 25 minutes of “Les mots du clic” game (optional)

Languages: French or English

Price: free for classes

Reservation: via the online form

Further information: by email at visites@centrephotogeneve.ch or by phone at 022 329 28 35

Preparatory visit: The preparatory visit is possible during the public opening hours of the Maison de l’enfance et de l’adolescence, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The detailed description of the exhibition and the mediation offer is available (in French) in this PDF file.

From 3 October to 30 October 2024:
Collective exhibition Spots

The Centre de la photographie Genève is delighted to be collaborating with the association Cerebral Genève and the association A l’Ouest et par-delà on an off-site cultural project called Spots. Founded in 1958 by a group of concerned parents, the Cerebral association offers leisure activities for people living with cerebral palsy, also known as cerebral palsy (CP), which refers to a group of movement and posture disorders. Caused by damage to the brain of the foetus or small child, it permanently limits the motor activity of those affected. The human senses and perception can be affected in varying degrees, as can intellect, behaviour and communication.

The Spots exhibition is a collaborative project in which participants with disabilities are photographed in places they enjoy and like to visit (the famous ‘spots’!). The images provide a glimpse of 30 symbolic, unexpected or secret places, chosen by the ‘tourist guides’ of the Cerebral Genève association. In partnership with the Centre de la photographie Genève, three photographers – Matthieu Gafsou, Sarah Carp and Aude Mayer – have been invited to take pictures of the people involved. The aim of Spots is to highlight the inclusive places that have been chosen and to testify to the evolution of the situation of accessibility in public places, which, while still far from ideal today, is gradually improving, largely thanks to the work of organizations. The project will be exhibited outdoors on the Plaine de Plainpalais from 2 to 30 October 2024.

Cerebral tourist guides :

Alessia Bleve, Thomas Calo, Samuel Cosendei, Sofia Cvital, Tom del Coso, Noémie Dussex, Jesse Furlbur, Pierre-Alain Goetschman, Ismaël Hadifi, Frédéric Kessler, Nathan Kipper, Robin Leisi, Hamza Maddi, Imina Omokaro, Lysiane Parker Margot, Koba Prevedello, Sammy Shalaby, Salvatore Sortino, Céline Rod

THEMES AND DISCIPLINES

The visits address some of the central issues of the exhibition in an accessible and age-appropriate way. The number and complexity of the themes vary according to the age of the pupils. It does not directly include images of violence or images likely to be shocking to young audiences. In all cases, the visit is based on the photographs and videos made by the artist.

Questions addressed during the visit include, depending on the age of the pupils:

• What is cerebral palsy, how it works and what are the related difficulties? How to live with multiple disabilities?
• Accessibility: why are some places easier to get to than others? What makes people feel welcome in certain places? How do certain locations bring us together?
• Depiction and empowerment: how to tell a life experience through photography? How can photography showcase under-represented people?

Depending on the age of the pupils, the subjects and themes covered during the visit include:

• Multi-disability, care
• Inclusivity, visibility
• Photography and art

Venue: Plaine de Plainpalais, 1205 Genève

Dates: 2 to 30 October 2024

Hours: Visits with the facilitator by reservation only from Monday to Friday between 9:00 and 18:00. Tours without a facilitator are also possible. Reservations are necessary.

Age: all school degrees from 8 years old (5P)

Duration of the visit: 35 minutes

Languages: French or English

Price: free for classes

Reservation: via the online form

Further information: by email at visites@centrephotogeneve.ch or by phone at 022 329 28 35

Preparatory visit: the exhibition is freely accessible on the Plaine de Plainpalais for teachers wishing to plan a visit with their class.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The detailed description of the exhibition and the mediation offer is available (in French) in this PDF file.