Vit à : Vitry-sur-Seine , France
Born in Arras (Hauts-de-France) in 1998, Thomas Lemire is an independent curator, art critic and artist-researcher. His activities are conceived in intelligence with ethical reflections linked to the theories of care and ecosophy. His curatorial and critical research is rooted in self-theoretical relationships, combining associations of ideas and cultural resonances that emerge as much from his intimacy as from dialogues with his collaborators and fieldwork. His work focuses on counter-narratives, their formation and imaginaries, and contemporary underground cultures. His current reflections take him to various fields of investigation: popular cultures, cultural reserves such as those of antedigital photography or rural folklore, the work of art and its material and emotional realities, and popular education.
After studying philosophy, cultural studies and art history at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, in 2020 he began working as a freelance journalist and art critic, contributing regularly to Artension Magazine. In 2022, he joined Sorbonne University’s Curatorial Studies program, during which he co-founded the curatorial collective soap. He has been working regularly with the temporary exhibitions department at MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine. Since 2024, he has been in curatorial residence for three years at the Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
Today, he is leading a research-action project examining the ethics, responsibility and alternative, solidarity-based economies of working art. One of his projects is to set up a working group to collectively write a long-term code of ethics for exhibition curators and art critics and to publish and distribute a “Survival Guide for the Artist-Author”.
Folklore, petrichor, inaugural curatorial residency exhibition, 17 May to 7 July 2024, Galerie municipale Jean-Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Aëla Maï Cabel, Ferruel & Guedon, Frederik Exner, Low Lov, Mahé Cabel, Youri Johnson
HUMAIN AUTONOME : ACCROCHAGE
a selection of works from the MAC VAL collection in conjunction with the forthcoming exhibition HUMAIN AUTONOME : DEROUTES (25 April to 22 September 2024), curated by Frank Lamy, assisted by Thomas Lemire, MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine.
With Carole Benzaken, Elisabeth Ballet, Eric Dubuc, Eric Hattan, ERRÓ, Etienne Bossut, Jean Dewasne, Michel de Broin, NØNE FUTBOL CLUB, Peter Klasen, Peter Stämpfli, Pierre Ardouvin, Pierre Buraglio, Raymond Hains and Véronique Boudier.
Semblable à un petit os de seiche, curated by soap collective, 22-30 July 2023, Bétonsalon – Centre d’art et de recherche.
With Anna Giner, Audrey Prédhumeau, Claire Gitton, Hélène Janicot, Juliette Ayrault, Marine Ducroux-Gazio, Michelle Feeley, Nicole, Nina Azoulay, Victor Gonzalez
– “Histoires vraies” – Focus: Virginie Barré”, Sunday April 2, 2023, MAC-VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine.
– “Salt Water is Bitter”: the 14th edition of Istanbul Biennal”, symposium with Radhia Bouboune as part of a study day organized by Sorbonne University, Saturday, January 28, 2023, Fondation Pernod-Ricard, Paris.
– “The Sonamou Adventure. Sonamou ou Séoul à Paris, Korean Artists between France and Korea”, debate with Amélie Adamo, Aurélia Antoni, Pierre Cambon, Henri-François Debailleux and Thomas Lemire, Friday October 21, 2022, Korean Cultural Center, Paris.
– Masterclass Arts and Medias by Ingrid Luquet-Gad, organized by the Youth Arts Club (YAC), Wednesday, October 24, 2021, Espace Quand les fleurs nous sauvent, Paris.
– “Attracted by the Stars”, Les Maux bleus, Season 1, episode 6, podcast, 2021.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Halfway between Reached Hands : Solidarity, Class Struggle, Vulnerabilities and Responsibility Among Art Workers, thesis in Curatorial Studies, thesis with high honors, under the direction of Alessandro Gallicchio and Clément Dirié, Sorbonne University, 2023.
The Death of Photography ? Imaginaries and Counter-narratives of Obsolescence in the Post-photographic Age, thesis in Philosophy and Art History with high honors, under the direction of Pauline Nadrigny and Michel Poivert, Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University, 2022
PRESS
« NILS-UDO », interview, Artension Magazine, n°177, January-February 2023.
« Mettre au monde », revue d’exposition, Artension Magazine, n°175, September-October 2022.
« Sèves photographiques » dans dossier “Art & Végétal”, Artension Magazine, n°173, May-June 2022.
« Sabrina Vitali, chercheuse d’étincelles », Artension Magazine, n°172, March-April 2022.
« Klee des champs », compte-rendu d’exposition, Artension Magazine, n°171, January-February 2022.
ESSAYS
«Les Lavandières : An Autobiographical Ghost Story on Washing Machines, Transgenerational Trauma, French Folktales and Greywater», essai autothéorique, in “Semblable à un petit os de seiche”, soap (éd.), Paris, juillet 2023.
Sonamou, exhibition catalogue, 2022.
– “BAEK Seungsoo”, p. 26-27.
– “KIM Hyeong Jun”, p. 56-57.
– “CHO Sun Young”, p. 114-115.
– “KIM Mona Young Eun”, p. 126-127.
«Against the Blind Seeing : la culture visuelle du chaos selon Ellis Laurens», Opium Philosophie n°10, revue papier, 2022.
«Vestige(s) photographique(s)», L’être-lieu n°14, revue papier, 2022, p. 14-17.
«Penser après le viol», Opium Philosophie, webrevue, 1 févr. 2021.
«Dialectique du virtuel», L’être-lieu n°12, revue papier, 2020, p. 61-65.
«Sabrina Vitali. Performance et vêtement : une expérience intérieure», L’être-lieu n°11, revue papier, 2019, p. 46-47.
OTHER WRITINGS
Survival Guide for the Art Workers, self-published, 2023.