Biography

Raphaël Grisey lives and works in Berlin. Grisey uses video, editorial and photographic works to assemble narratives about politics of memory, migration and architecture.

The book Where is Rosa L. (2001-2006) and the film National Motives (2011) study the ghosts of various political regimes in the public spaces of Berlin and Budapest. Through diverse documentary, fictional or essayist forms, Grisey’s films and installations deal with neocolonial spatial politics and decolonial story telling and practices in agriculture and urban space (Trappes, Ville Nouvelle, 2003; Cooperative, 2008 and Sowing Somankidi Coura, a Generative Archive 2015– in collaboration with Bouba Touré). He collaborated with Florence Lazar on the films Prvi Deo and Red Star (2006), which deal with post-war former Yugoslavia’s justice. Other film projects were made in France amid students’ strikes (The Indians, 2011), in China amid Míngōng peasant-workers (The Exchange of Perspectives, 2011), in the social housing complex of Pedregulho in Brazil (Minhocão, 2011), in the Brazilian Positivist Church in Rio de Janeiro (Amor e Progresso, 2014) and around maroon quilombola communities in Minas Gerais (Remanescentes; A Mina dos Vagalumes, 2015).

His work has been shown in various film festivals such as FID Marseille (FR), Hotdocs Vancouver (CA), Doc Lisboa (PR), Forum Doc (BR), Berlinale Forum Expanded (DE). As well as in art centers such as Kunsthalle Budapest (HU), Centre Pompidou, Art Center Les Églises Chelles, Passerelle, Espace Khiasma, CPIF (FR), Casa Encendida (SP), MAM Sao Paulo, MIS (BR), MCA Chicago (US), Savvy Contemporary, NGBK, Halle Für Kunst Lüneburg, Archive Kabinett, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein (G), 10th Contour Biennale (BE), 2nd Yinchuan Biennale (CN), Jeu de Paume (FR). He has been a fellow at the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme (2015–2019). In 2019 and 2020, various forms of his research and collaboration with Bouba Touré Sowing Somankidi Coura, a Generative Archive, were presented at Kunsthall Trondheim (NO), Savvy Contemporary (DE), Den Fries Copenhagen (DK), Contour Biennale Mechelen (BE), Levart Levanger (NO), Un Lieu pour Respirer (FR), Villa Romana (IT), Centre Pompidou (FR), Silent Green (DE), Dhaka Art Summit (BD), Goteborg Kunsthall (SE) and HKW (DE).

Contact : rgrisey at gmail dot com