Lek & Sowat Lecture Series

Let yourself be carried away by Thomasine Zoler, art historian specialized in contemporary art, guide and independent curator, for a cycle of three virtual conferences: Lek & Sowat, Exploration and infiltration in unexploited territories.

The career of these two artists will be presented during each conference, revealing their clandestine and unusual projects. This cycle will focus on the importance of the approach of these artists and will highlight a practice of graffiti little known to the general public: the Urbex. The genesis of the projects, their realizations and their role in the evolution of the career of the two artists will be evoked. Numerous photographs and videos will enrich the presentation.

1- The Mausoleum: Urbex at La Villette

This first virtual conference will present Lek & Sowat’s first joint project – Le Mausolée – a vandal residence in a disused supermarket at Porte de la Villette. For a year, the two partners have explored every corner of the building and have invited more than forty French graffiti artists to clandestinely invest this place full of history.

More information here.

2- Lek & Sowat, Infiltrations at the Palais de Tokyo

Here we will focus on Lek & Sowat’s infiltration in Parisian institutions with their exhibitions Les Entrailles du Palais de Tokyo and Terrains Vagues, in which they officially (and secretly) invited about fifty artists. As an extension of the Mausoleum, we will analyze the way they invaded this contemporary art center, while remaining faithful to their approach.

More information here.

3- Lek & Sowat, Explorations of the depths, underwater and underground

During this last one, we will dive into more recent projects of Lek & Sowat, going into the depths of their exploration in unknown territories through their work The Monolith immersed in the bay of Arcachon and their monumental underground intervention on the Tunnelier Koumba of the line 14 of the Parisian subway.

More information here.