— To which is painting directed in every case — to the imitation of reality as it is, or of appearance as it appears?
Glaucon— Of a phantasm.
Socrates— Then the mimetic art is far removed from truth — it produces everything, because it touches or lays hold of only a small part of the object, and that a phantom…
Republic, X — 598a-b
— Τίνος ἄρα ἡ ζωγραφική; τοῦ μιμουμένου τῶν ὄντων ὡς ὄντων, ἢ τοῦ μιμουμένου τῶν ὄντων ὡς φαινομένων;
Γλαύκων— Τῶν φαινομένων.
Σωκράτης— Ἔστιν ἄρα ὁ μιμητὴς πολύ πόρρω ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ ἂν βούληταί τι ποιεῖν, ὅτι ἂν ὀλίγον ἅπται ἐξ αὐτῶν, ἐκείνόν ἐστιν εἴδωλον· ὥστε ἔστιν εἴδωλον ἐκ τοῦ εἰδώλου…
On Painting is a three-year international cycle of five immersive symposia, holding conversations across five cities about themes both historically and critically resonant with each location.
Each session gathers fifteen to twenty-five invited artists, theorists and curators over three days. The opening and closing of each edition will occur with the convivial and improvisational original nature of the symposium: drinking (and eating) together. These two closed-door working sessions frame one public day of lectures, roundtable and an exhibition in dialogue with a local institution.
Each edition will be the object of a book that will be added to the generative coffret On Painting. The cycle closes with a book of synthesis, a long-format podcast, and a feature documentary. The project is hosted by a French endowment fund and structured for the long term: not an event, but an inquiry.
Each symposium unfolds over three days: two closed-door working sessions for the invited cohort, framing one public day of lectures, roundtable and exhibition opening with the host institution.
Arrival of the cohort. The question of the edition is set, and the first working session opens around an aperitif and a long dinner. Stakes, terms, and tensions are placed on the table.
The public day. Dialectic lectures by selected speakers, a public roundtable, and the vernissage of an exhibition curated for the edition in partnership with a host institution.
The second working session: a long lunch, and the synthesis of the cohort's three days. Conclusions are drawn, the editorial seeds of the catalogue are planted, departures follow.
One published volume per edition: a critical apparatus containing commissioned essays, interviews, and transcripts of the dialogues. Each volume is edited according to the changing editorial direction of each cycle.
A final volume gathers the edited contents of all 5 symposia and condenses them into a synthesis, providing a useful document for practitioners, theorists, and the generally curious alike as to the state of painting at this time in its history.
Each edition is accompanied by a curated exhibition, opening on the Saturday public day after the discursive events. The exhibition is produced in partnership with the host institution, or a parallel institution, and is openly accessible to the public. The exhibition catalogue is an integral part of each edition's published volume.
Saturday's public lectures and roundtable are filmed and released in long form. Distributed openly via online platforms, with subtitles where relevant.
In-depth filmed conversations with each contributing artist, lecturer and curator.
Long-format audio conversations released alongside each edition — one main episode per symposium, with shorter capsule episodes between. Distributed on YouTube long-form, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
A feature-length film built across the three years of the cycle: footage of every symposium, in-studio sequences with the contributing painters, interstitial essay-films. Designed for the festival circuit (Berlinale, IDFA, Visions du Réel) and theatrical / Arte / Mubi release.