Julien Villaret lives and works in Berlin since 2007.
Julien Villaret's exploratory artistic practice has been unfolding for several years from the Brittany coast to Berlin. Alternately screen printer, artist's assistant, carpenter, exhibition curator or lamp repairer in the german capital, he becomes a naturalist amateur of the marine world and more particularly of the macro-algae resource several times a year during regular stays in the North Finistère (Fr), his favorite study ground.
This back and forth between city and country, concrete and sea, Germany and Brittany gives rise to a fertile correspondence where the worlds collide and mix to reveal hybrid forms through the use of graphic reproduction techniques and a certain practice of design that he is particularly fond of since his studies at the fine arts school in Grenoble in the early 2000s and later during his time in various artists' studios in the Netherlands and Germany (Atelier van Lieshout in Rotterdam, Bethanien Druckwerkstatt in Berlin.)
The result is a set of practices very strongly inspired by the marine environment on the one hand and the world of the printed object on the other, which summon, without any established hierarchy, typography, macro-algae observation, granitic rock, the practice of gradation in silk-screening, lunar cartography, bookbinding or the gathering of shells.
Artistic Background
From 1999 untill 2004, I studied in the Grenoble Art School (Fr).
In 2004 I worked one year as studio assistant in Atelier Van Lieshout in Rotterdam (NL).
In 2005 I travelled 6 months in a mobile silk-screen unit across central and eastern Europe during the project Seriall.
From 2002 untill 2012 I developed the silk-screen collective Elshopo in France.
In 2012, I created the printing studio Goofypress in Berlin.
From 2014 to 2019, I worked together with 8 other artists in the project space tête, in Berlin-Prenzlauerberg.
Since 2014, I run Algae Paper, an artistic platform based in between Brittany and Berlin to develop projects around seaweed and the marine ressource.
Exhibitions and Works
2024
Algae Paper from Finistère, personal exhibition and artist book presentation, Einbuch.haus, Berlin (D)
2023
Maison Piégée, collective exhibition, curated by Le Syndicat d'Initiatives, Eyragues (Fr)
2022
Objet de Künst, collective exhibition, tête, Berlin (D)
Green Shöpf, exhibition/workshop with Julie Sorel, Changing Room, Berlin (D)
Intertidal, personal exhibition, Galerie Showcase, Grenoble (Fr)
2019
The Seaweed House, personal exhibition, Berlin (D)
Gesamtkunstwerk, collective exhibition, tête, Berlin (D)
Uferhallen Kunstaktien, collective exhibition, n.b.k., Berlin (D)
2017
Typologies, installation at Missread, HKW, Berlin (D)
Mega Bock, collective exhibition, Ufer Hallen, Berlin (D)
2016
La Passe, personnal exhibition, tête, Berlin (D)
Ideal Reading #2, collective exhibition, Le Magasin, Grenoble (Fr)
2015
Produkte mit Musik, happening with Mathias Mayer, tête, Berlin (D)
2014
Frisbeel, installation at Sonic Protest, Paris (Fr)
Tootem#2, collective exhibition, Les Instants Chavirés, Montreuil (Fr)
We tête, collective exhibition, tête, Berlin (D)
2013
Ideal Reading, personal exhibition, tête, Berlin (D)
Smooth moiré, Happening, tête, Berlin (D)
No-Book Machine, workshop at the Annecy art school (Fr)
2007-2012
Mille-feuille, personal exhibition, Sonntag, Berlin (D)
Peti Turismo, collective exhibition, 2011, OUI, Grenoble (Fr)
Galerie Dart, collective exhibition, 2011, Krenöbl, Berlin (D)
Arcade Paper, installation, 2010, Centre Pompidou-Metz (Fr)
Hell Shopo in Myred, collective exhibition, 2010, Salon de Montrouge (Fr)
Grand-Duc vs. Chienpo, happening, 2010, MUDAM (Luxemburg)
Who eats Who, happening, 2010, PM Galerie, Berlin (D)
Fantastique des mirages, collective exhibition, 2009, Galerie Nuit d’Encre, Paris (Fr)
Veduta, collective exhibition, 2009, Biennale de Lyon (Fr)
Anarchy for Serigraphy, happening, 2008, Praha Project, Sapporo (JPN)
Allons voir là-bas, collective exhibition, 2008, Fondation Espace Ecureuil, Toulouse (Fr)
Junk City, happening, 2007, Biennale de Lyon (Fr)
Mochi Print Yataï, happening, 2007 SLICK, Paris (Fr)
