FOR ITS 100TH ANNIVERSARY, CITROËN IS PUTTING ON A PHOTO EXHIBITION IN PARIS THIS SUMMER: THE WORLD INSPIRED BY CITROËN

The date of the Centenary is Citroën’s opportunity to scale up the forms of celebrations by glorifying the past, by showcasing the present and by looking to the future of the Brand. With its characteristic boldness, it is today giving free rein to seven leading international photographers for 100 shots brought together in one exhibition called ‘THE WORLD INSPIRED BY CITROËN’.

“This summer, ‘The World Inspired by Citroën’ exhibition at the Paris Mint is an invitation to travel on board the Brand’s models. It brings together the fruits of labour of seven talented photographers, coming from the four corners of the world. They have each cast an artistic eye on Citroën in some of the major cities of the world. Amsterdam, Paris, Tunis, Milan, New York, Buenos Aires, Tokyo. With these 100 shots, the result is a real treat for the eyes, a unique showcasing of Citroën’s iconic dimension throughout the world! Come and join us and you will understand why, as a brand, Citroën really is one of a kind!” Linda Jackson, Citroën CEO.

Some have beautified these cars, others have made them part of daily life, some have brought them to life, others have immortalised them, some have put them on the street, others in the studio, and the result is just as creative as the Brand’s models which are depicted there! You can take a look now on the website of the Citroën Origins online museum, in the section dedicated to the Brand’s centenary.

To celebrate this free exhibition, a collector’s catalogue has been produced in partnership with the magazine IDEAT in XXL format (30 x 38 cm), 156 pages.

The catalogue is on sale online at a price of 20 euros at lifestyle.citroen.com, on site for the duration of the exhibition at the Paris Mint, as well as at ‘the Gathering of the Century’ (‘le Rassemblement du Siècle’) organised from 19-21 July at La Ferté-Vidame, in Eure-et-Loir for Citroën collectors and fans. Bilingual French and en publication.

THE WORLD INSPIRED BY CITROËN

9 July to 18 August 2019
Exhibition at the Paris Mint (La Monnaie de Paris)
11, Quai de Conti
75006 Paris
Free entrance

7 leading photographers shoot Citroën in 100 photos in 7 global cities

Amsterdam • Paris • Tunis • Milan • New York • Buenos Aires • Tokyo

Exhibition poster attached

AMSTERDAM, Erwin Olaf

« For me it is all about the silhouette of their cars. As a Dutchman I can get inspired by their designs, although nothing beats the design of our national treasure: the Friesian cow. »

Erwin was born in 1959 Hilversum (The Netherlands) in an environment not particularly oriented towards art. At 29, after photojournalism and advertising, he made his debut as an artist through “Chessmen”, a black and white series where he staged anti-contingent characters. The series is on display at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne. Everything is there already: the taste of staging, the sophistication of light, the sensuality, the desire to denounce social a priori… In 1988, he won the First prize of the contest called Young Europeans photographers. His campaign for the brand Diesel makes him won in 1999 the Lion of Silver at the International Advertising Festival of Cannes Lions. Erwin shows a couple of octogenarians… politically incorrect. He will receive the prize again in 2001 for his Heineken campaign. The same year, with the series “Paradise”, “The Club” and “Paradise Portrait”, he shows the circus world as festive and licentious. 2003: Erwin loses his father. As a mourning, he directed the series “Separation” where a mother and her child move in an icy setting. In 2006, he received the award for Best Dutch Artist of the Year by Kunstbeeld magazine. In 2007, he directed the trilogy “Hope, Grief, Rain” which evokes universe closed to the Hopper. An American aesthetic of the 50s tinged with Flemish light. In 2008, the Lucie Award rewards its work in the advertising fi eld. Throughout his personal series, he asserts his style and his questions about the differences of class, sex, race, beauty ... while expressing the weight of secrecy. The decor, colours, light and portraits are reminiscent of Vermeer. And in 2011, he received the Johannes Vermeer Award. In 2013, he was chosen from twelve artists to draw the Dutch euro. He still collaborates in advertising campaigns (Bottega Veneta, Venteprivée…) but his name is now inseparable from the biggest fairs of contemporary art. 2019. For his 60 years he multiplies exhibitions events including a mise en abyme of his images with the masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Age.

PARIS, Sonia Sieff

“It’s the story of a small car with a human heart…”

Sonia Sie? is a photographer and fi lm maker. Her vocation was born at 17, through travel. She took up business on movie sets with renowned photo directors, before turning to fashion. Her style is marked by a mastery and a love for light, as well as an obsession with personality and body which she expresses through nude and portrait. In recent years, while collaborating with many French and international magazines (The Telegraph, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Italy…), she also devotes herself to her personal projects and exhibitions. Her fi rst book, Les Françaises, was published in 2017 by Rizzoli.
Currently, she is working on her fi rst documentary, about her father, a short fi lm about the world of fashion and her next photographic books.

TUNIS, Mouna Karray

“Over the days, in the buses that cross the city in motion, from my height I look at the familiar presence of Citroën in Tunis in the middle of the crowd…”

Mouna Karray was born in 1970 in Sfax, Tunisia. She fi rst studied art and culture in Tunis before settling in Tokyo where she began a master’s degree in photography at the Tokyo Polytechnic University. She lives and works today between Paris and Tunis. Mouna Karray confronts sociopolitical themes with her personal experience to explore constructions of identity and memory. Her works are currently on display at the Cape Town Zeitz MOCAA Museum, in South Africa. She exposed her works at the MACAAL Museum in Marrakech, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, the MMK in Frankfurt, the MAXXI in Rome and the Musée du quai Branly in Paris. She also participated in several biennials, notably in Paris, at the Biennial of Contemporary Photography from the Arab World at the IMA, at the Dak’Art Biennial and at the Bamako Encounters Photography Biennial.

MILAN, Delfino Sisto Legnani

“I grew up in Milan. My mum drove a 2 CV until 2000 and my dad a DS, then a BX GTI. We also had a tireless Mehari to go by the sea. This project is a tribute to my city’s architecture details, as snap-shots from a Citroën window.”

After graduating in Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, he began to work as an assistant for Ramak Fazel and as freelance photographer for major independent and institutional magazines and newspapers, such as Domus, Abitare, Elle Decor, Vogue, ICON, Apartamento, Mousse Magazine, Wallpaper, Rivista Studio, Living, La Repubblica and Corriere Della Sera. In 2015 he establishes DSL Studio with Marco Cappelletti, a photography studio, which collaborates with architectural fi rms, artists, institutions and brand including OMA, Aires Mateus Arquitectos, Thomas Demand, Fondazione Prada, Fls, Architectural Academy of Mendrisio and MAXXI. Alternating between reportage, architectural and still-life photography, his work has been awarded and displayed in museums and institutions such as the Biennale di Venezia, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Triennale di Milano, the Design Museum in London, as well as in numerous galleries and exhibitions. In 2016 he establishes MEGA with Davide Giannella and Giovanna Silva: a place where previously unseen projects that would be hard to have birth elsewhere, can be developed and shown. MEGA makes no genre distinctions. It puts art, architecture, design, music, photography, publishing and cinema on the same footing, as interwoven and interweavable aspects of today’s cultural panorama.

NEW YORK, Formento + Formento

“The camera must be used as a vehicle of the imagination. For the Citroën series we wanted to create the atmosphere and photographs that would never have existed without the invention of the artist.”

Formento + Formento are known for their romantic and elegant photographs which explore the themes of love, loss, nostalgia and the burden of memory. Using staged and saturated colors, the mysterious sensuality of their style reveals a fascination for fi ction and reality, as well as for atmosphere and texture, where the sense of space occupies a preponderant place. Filmmakers in America, Europe, Cuba, Mexico, India or Japan, they combine a passion for photography and fi lm with a lasting love for one another.
Under the name of Formento + Formento, Richeille Formento directs the styles and the arts, while BJ Formento illuminates and photographs. The images are a common portrait, an exchange in which the individualities of the artist fade, leaving traces on each other. Together, the duo has an ability to absorb the atmosphere of a place by creating cinematographic photographs, with a vision that references the past but remains contemporary and original. Returned to Japan in 2008, they are currently working on a new series of 36 views of Mount Fuji. Focusing their attention on the artist Hokusai, they question the meaning of this mountain for Japenese people.
Represented by several galleries, the artists bring together a passionate audience with performances and exhibitions around the world. In September 2013, the Formentos celebrated the release of their first volume of art, Circumstance, published by YK Editions, accompanied by a short documentary on their work presented in Paris and their second book published in 2015 entitled Cinematic Chronicles.

BUENOS AIRES, Marcos López

« My work connected me with my childhood. I remember the gear shift lever on the steering wheel and the sound in the road of my father’s 3 CV during the family trips… I linked all this with issues of national identity: Gardel, Evita, tango, football… »

Marcos López is a photographer and visual artist recognized as one of the most important in Latin America. His photographs are characterized staged scenes, where he plays the role of a theater director, with influences from film, painting and classical documentary. He was born in Santa Fé, and began taking photographs in 1978. In 1982 he obtained a scholarship from the National Fund for the Arts and moved to Buenos Aires, where he worked on collective projects with photographers and artists from other disciplines.
He collaborated with independent media in Buenos Aires such as Expreso Imaginario and El Porteño; and in 1989 he joined the first class of foreign scholars from the International Film and TV School of Cuba, under the direction of Gabriel García Márquez.
He is invited to give workshops and conferences on the production of his work around the world and has published multiple books like Retratos, Pop Latino and El Jugador. His photos are found in museums in Argentina, the United States, Spain, Cuba and Venezuela, amongst others.

TOKYO, Yoshiyuki Okuyama

« Whether vintage or modern, Citroën cars stand out in Tokyo. I explored the city with mine, shooting immortal moments. The car made me feel sometimes like it was a reliable father, a best friend or even a girlfriend. I will never get tired of it. »

Yoshiyuki Okuyama was born in Tokyo in 1991. He started with realising animated movies but soon turned to photography. To him, this reproduction of reality represents a simple way to let everyone imagines what he wants. Always looking for innovation, he is mainly inspired by new encounters and especially the emotions and sensations that these encounters provide. His meeting with the German designer, Dieter Rams, changed his conception of photography and encouraged him to push his limits. In 2011, he won the 34th New Cosmos of Photography, and Award of Excellence. In 2016, he won the 47 th Kodansha Publishing Culture Awards in Photography. In recent years, Yoshiyuki focused on fi lmmaking and became more and more involved in international projects especially in Asia and Europe. He worked and collaborated with Hermès on the realization of a promotional video of the Twillon silk ribbon in Tokyo.

La Marque Citroën

Au cœur du marché automobile, Citroën s’affirme depuis 1919 comme une marque populaire au sens noble, faisant des gens et de leurs modes de vie sa première source d’inspiration. Un esprit souligné par sa signature ‘Inspired by You’ et incarné par des voitures alliant design unique et confort de référence. Au sein des généralistes, Citroën se distingue aussi par l’expérience singulière offerte à ses clients (Citroën Advisor, ‘La Maison Citroën’, etc.). En 2018, la Marque a vendu 1,05 million de véhicules dans plus de 80 pays.

Site media Citroën : https://fr-media.citroen.com - @CitroenFrance

CONTACTS PRESSE
Nathalie ROUSSEL - Tél. : +336 87 77 41 82 - nathalie.roussel@citroen.com

Paul MAHOUIN - Tél. : +33 (0)7 61 52 63 16 - paul.mahouin@citroen.com