Contempl’Art

06/01/2026

[ÉTATS DES LIEUX. ÉTATS DES ÊTRES.]

Artist Focus 

”I follow my grandparents’ stories about the past and the war through fragments, grasping at associations, memories, and symbols that surface as they speak. These symbols uncover a whole world beneath the surface - what is perceived as a Paradise is the outer shell; beneath it, time unravels and memory persists in gestures, and spaces, even when it remains unspoken.  
This narrative belongs not only to my grandparents. Many families endured similar ruptures, and the symbolic language extends beyond personal history. My grandfather’s lost library, rebuilt book by book; my grandmother running with family photographs because “they cannot take my memories”, these fragments form an intimate, private archaeology that echoes a collective one.” U.T.

© Una Tomašević, Rotten Paradise 
 

“États des lieux. États des êtres.” exhibition
📍 SPAZIO, Marseille .neo
🗓 10.01 – 08.02
Opening: 10.01

04/01/2026

[ÉTATS DES LIEUX. ÉTATS DES ÊTRES.] 

Artist Focus 

With “Šarac”, Mitar Simikić documents the everyday life of Ranko Mijatović Šarac, a war survivor living in Mezgraja, in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Set in a post-war landscape marked by abandonment and stagnation, the series explores how trauma becomes embedded in routine, where geography turns into biography. 

© Mitar Simikić, Šarac 
.simikic

“États des lieux. États des êtres.” exhibition
📍 SPAZIO, Marseille .neo 
10.01 – 08.02 
Opening: 10.01

04/01/2026

[ÉTATS DES LIEUX. ÉTATS DES ÊTRES.]

Artist Focus

In “They Forgot To Treat Us“, Jeanne Frank engages in a long-term, intimate dialogue with Bosnian artist Adela Jušić , who grew up during the siege of Sarajevo. Structured as a diary, the work unfolds over time, tracing the silent aftermath of war through everyday gestures, confinement, dependency, and fractured intimacy.

Rather than documenting the conflict itself, the series focuses on what followed: the unresolved psychological wounds, the inherited trauma, and the sense of suspension experienced by a generation raised amid violence and loss. Through proximity and duration, Jeanne Frank collects fragments of memory and existence, revealing how war continues to inhabit bodies and lives long after the reconstruction of cities.

“They Forgot To Treat Us“ questions the idea of post-war recovery, exposing the gap between rebuilding infrastructures and caring for human beings.

Jeanne Frank is the guest photographer of this exhibition project and was a member of the selection committee.

© Jeanne Frank, They Forgot To Treat Us


“États des lieux. États des êtres.” exhibition
📍 SPAZIO, Marseille .neo 
🗓 10.01 – 08.02
Opening: 10.01

03/01/2026

[ÉTATS DES LIEUX. ÉTATS DES ÊTRES.]

Artist Focus 

“The consequences of the Yugoslav wars remain deeply inscribed in Croatian society. While monuments and political narratives preserve official memories, the everyday realities of veterans are less visible.The project focuses on a small circle of war veterans, including my father, tracing how they carry the past into daily life within the intimate spaces of home. Rather than seeing trauma as a closed event, Plima approaches it as a living condition, circulating through bodies, conversations, and family bonds. Rooted in a region still shaped by the legacy of war, the project speaks to broader questions of how individuals and communities live on after conflict.“ I.T.

© Ivan Tomašević, Plima 


“États des lieux. États des êtres.” exhibition
📍 SPAZIO, Marseille .neo 
10.01 – 08.02 
Opening: 10.01

30/12/2025

[ÉTATS DES LIEUX. ÉTATS DES ÊTRES.] 

Artist Focus 

In “Invisible Imprints”, Ferdi Limani explores a society where war has settled into the rhythm of everyday life. Moving between landscapes and bodies, his work traces the gap between official narratives of progress and the lived reality of unresolved trauma, inherited silence, and prolonged waiting. 

© Ferdi Limani, Invisible Imprints 


“États des lieux. États des êtres.” exhibition
📍 SPAZIO, Marseille .neo 
10.01 – 08.02 
Opening: 10.01

28/12/2025

[ÉTATS DES LIEUX. ÉTATS DES ÊTRES.]

Artist Focus 

With “Abrupt”, Blerina Muriqi documents abandoned industrial sites in Kosovo — remnants of a once interconnected economic and social system. These structures, left behind after the war, carry the weight of labor, memory, and rupture. Her work reflects on inheritance, disappearance, and the fragile persistence of post-war landscapes. 

© Blerina Muriqi, Abrupt 


“États des lieux. États des êtres.” exhibition
📍 SPAZIO, Marseille .neo 
10.01 – 08.02 
Opening: 10.01

21/12/2025

[ÉTATS DES LIEUX. ÉTATS DES ÊTRES.]

Contempl’Art presents the Part I of States of Place. States of Being., a group photography exhibition exploring the visible and invisible traces of the 1990s Yugoslav Wars in territories, bodies, and memory.

Through long-term documentary practices, the exhibition brings together artists who work within post-war territories, villages, domestic interiors, industrial ruins, and divided landscapes; where trauma has settled into everyday life and silence has become a condition of survival.

SPAZIO, Marseille .neo 
10.01 – 08.02
Opening: 10.01

Artists (A–Z)
© Armin Graca, Points of Impass
© Blerina Muriqi, Abrupt
© Ferdi Limani, Invisible Imprints
© Ivan Tomašević, Plima
© Jeanne Frank, They Forgot To Treat Us
© Mitar Simikić, Šarac .simikic
© Una Tomašević, Rotten Paradise

Selection committee
Jeanne Frank
Jelena Martinović
Emilia Trifunović

Partners
Project funded by Crous
Prints produced by Initial LABO

04/12/2025

At Contempl’Art, we continue to develop projects that explore the relationships between place, history, and individual experience.

Our next exhibition, « States of Place. States of Being. », brings together artists whose practices engage with these questions through diverse forms and perspectives.

To support the production of new works and ensure fair conditions for the artists involved, we are launching a crowdfunding campaign.

Your contribution directly participates in the realization of this exhibition and in the sustainability of our independent structure.

Thank you for supporting this project.

Financement participatif organisé par Contempl'Art - Soutenez “États des lieux. États des êtres.” : une exposition collective sur les traces visibles et invisibles des guerres yougoslaves.

09/11/2025

[𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗡 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟] 𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆

Contempl’Art invites submissions for the Part I of 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚. 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘽𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜., a group exhibition exploring the visible and invisible traces of the ’90s Yugoslav Wars in territories, bodies, and memory.

Open to photographers from, or with roots in, the former Yugoslav region.

𝗧𝗼 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆�• Photographic series (TIF)
�• Statement (~400 words)
�• Signed Terms & Conditions
Full details & docs here: https://linktr.ee/contemplart

→ 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗼@𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
�Free submission

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: 07.12�
𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀: mid-December�
𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: 10.01.2026 — 𝙎𝙋𝘼𝙕𝙄𝙊, Marseille

𝗝𝘂𝗿𝘆�
Jeanne Frank · Jelena Martinovic · Emilia Trifunovic

Prints produced by 𝗜𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗔𝗕𝗢.