Any other business

  As I already explained in a November 2023 post , Josèfa Ntjam is a young artist I first came across when helping with preparations for  Alternating Currents, the inaugural exhibition at Parallel Circuit, in Tehran . Her work was to be included in the exhibition, and I found myself translating the text of one of her videos (as it happens, later shown at  FRAC Ile de France's 40th birthday exhibition, Gunaikeion , in Romainville), so it could be subtitled for Iran, and taking a train to her home town to pick up some works (cushions) for dispatch there. I've taken an interest in her work since then. In 2023, Josèfa was selected to spend a year in residence with LVMH's Métiers d'Art program, the aim of which is to bring top-level artisans and young artists closer together. Josèfa spent her year with an organisation called the Jade Groupe, and, as the LVMH Métiers d'Art website explains, 'envisioned sculptures nearly two metres high, even though the company is spec...

Josèfa Ntjam is a young artist I first came across when helping with preparations for Alternating Currents, the inaugural exhibition at Parallel Circuit, in Tehran . Her name was in the list of artists whose work was to be included in the exhibition, and I found myself translating the text of one of her videos (as it happens, now showing at FRAC Ile de France's 40th birthday exhibition, Gunaikeion , in Romainville), so it could be subtitled for Iran, and taking a train to her current home town to pick up some works (cushions) for dispatch there. Since then, I've looked out for her name and seen a few works at Poggi in Paris, and more at Toucher Terre, an exhibition of ceramic sculptures at the Espace Monte Cristo that I wrote about in July. She now has a compact but striking installation at the Fondation Pernod Ricard, called Matter Gone Wild , and I went to see it one sodden day this month. There are two things I'd like to mention as relevant here. First, something I ofte...