Sophie Podolski: The Country Where Everything Is Permitted

Opening on Saturday, April 21, from 4 to 9 pm

Curator: Caroline Dumalin (WIELS)

Sophie Podolski, Untitled, ca. 1970, ink on paper, 24.5 x 32 cm. Courtesy Joëlle de La Casinière

Villa Vassilieff pre­sents the first exhi­bi­tion ded­i­cated to the Belgian artist Sophie Podolski in Paris, fol­lowing its pre­sen­ta­tion at WIELS, Brussels ear­lier this year. Born in 1953 in Brussels, Sophie Podolski was, during her life­time, mostly known as a poet, gath­ering the interest of the Parisian lit­erary avant-garde. Her work is emblem­atic of a time marked by sexual lib­er­a­tion, anti-psy­chi­atry and a dis­en­chanted youth. In just a few years (between 1968 and 1974, the date of her sui­cide at the age of 21), she pro­duced a remark­able graphic work, as well as a book: Le pays où tout est permis (The Country Where Everything Is Permitted) in 1972. This young self-taught scholar wrote in an expres­sive and provoca­tive, unre­strained style about life, pop­ular cul­ture and the con­formism of society.

While writing and drawing are almost inex­tri­cable for Podolski, during her life­time she was mostly con­sid­ered a poet. The exhi­bi­tion focuses on her visual work and her very per­sonal iconog­raphy to shed light on it through the pre­sen­ta­tion of works on paper, made in India ink, pastel and col­ored pencil, next to the pages of the orig­inal manuscript of her sin­gular book. The exhi­bi­tion also fea­tures the film Dans la Maison (du Montfaucon Research Center) directed by Joëlle de La Casinière, a friend of Sophie Podolski who has kept her works until today.

Sophie Podolski’s brief period of activity is char­ac­ter­ized by rad­ical social and cul­tural upheavals, which cul­mi­nated in var­ious European coun­tries, including France and Belgium in May 1968, and sud­denly changed the way the youth looked at society. The title of her book implic­itly refers to the eman­ci­pa­tory struggle of a gen­er­a­tion in search of self-deter­mi­na­tion. With her sub­jec­tive and expres­sive lan­guage, Podolski is the voice of a coun­ter­cul­ture that is once again fas­ci­nated by exper­i­men­ta­tion, imag­i­na­tion and the explo­ration of con­scious­ness.

The per­sonal life and prac­tice of Sophie Podolski are closely linked to France where the pub­li­ca­tion of Le pays où tout est permis in 1972 earned her a crit­ical recog­ni­tion from lit­erary and artistic cir­cles. Her work was par­tic­u­larly sup­ported by the writer Philippe Sollers and the his­to­rian of the Dada move­ment Marc Dachy, who pre­sented her con­tri­bu­tions respec­tively in the avant-garde French magazines Tel Quel and Luna-Park.

Sophie Podoloski was also a reg­ular res­i­dent of the Montfaucon Research Center, a col­lec­tive led by Joëlle de La Casinière and Michel Bonnemaison, based at 25, rue de l’Aurore. The his­tory of this cos­mopolitan artistic and intel­lec­tual com­mu­nity is reflected in Villa Vassilieff’s past and its pro­gram­ming.