Now that I'm in the airport, I have to go through the departures gate. Take my shoes and belt off. Switch off all my electronic instruments (smartphone, iPad, digital camera, laptop). Then, like a frightened child, I have to walk through the x-ray detector, attempting to look indifferent. They find my lighter and I have to leave it there. I let them touch me one last time before I am able to take my stuff back, the metallic taste of blood in my mouth, a mix of humiliation and restrained violence - of potential threat.

Here I am: the sterile zone of the airport is opening before me, a privileged space of solitude and quiescence, without any noise or possible disturbance. After a few  obligatory words with a handful of people, I get in a relatively comfortable plane. The air is perfectly conditioned, though a little cold. After take-off, I hibernate and fantasize about a golden age of air transport when Andrée Putman created cutlery for Concorde and air-hostesses were dressed by Courrèges rather than in terylene. Seven hours later, just before landing, fear floods the jet-lagged brain of the commander. The airport tracks sink right in front of me, my nails dig into the armrests, the plane touches the ground in shock, the brakes start to grate, the wheels slip, the plane finally stops.

Nicolas Garait-Leavenworth
Born in 1978


EDUCATION
2006
MFA, ENSBA-Lyon

2003
MA Art History, University of Grenoble

1998
BA Literature & Photography, University of Hudderfield/UCL


SOLO SHOWS
2014
It Won't Be Long Now (chap. 2), Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Paris - exhibition views HERE
Understanding through Peace, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux

2013
I See a Stream Of Cars Where No Man Has Dared To Drived Before, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Bordeaux (Guests Guillaume Landron and David Malek) - exhibition views HERE

2012
Not Titled Yet (Clifton's), Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Bordeaux (cur. Paul Bernard) - exhibition views HERE

2011
Understanding through Peace, La Salle de Bains, Lyon  (cur. Jill Gasparina & Caroline Soyez-Petithomme)


GROUP SHOWS
2015
Biennale de Lyon / Rendez-vous 15, Institut d'art contemporain Villeurbanne / Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne

2014
Quelque chose à vous dire, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Paris - exhibition views HERE
Staging Interruptions (Stream of Life), Southard Reid, London (cur. Mary Rinebold & Sarina Basta)
We Specialize In Outdoor Advertising, ENSBA, Lyon

2013
Collection n°2, Interior & the Collectors, Lyon
PF Dispatch, Public Fiction, Los Angeles
Campagnes / campagne, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Bordeaux - exhibition views HERE

2012
57e Salon de Montrouge, Paris
An Exhibition to Hear Read, ICA Philadelphia (cur. Mathieu Copeland)
Paper Jam #2, Paris & Zurich (cur. Charlotte Seidel & Emile Ouroumov)

2011
Splash, Centre St-Luc-St-Joseph, Lyon
La Biennale de Lyon en Résonance à Paris, Délégation du Grand Lyon, Paris
Studies for an Exhibition, David Roberts Art Foundation, London

2010
I Dont Like The Way The Pills Make Me Feel (After Allen), Espace public de Los Angeles

2009
All Saints, Centre St-Luc-St-Joseph, Lyon

2007
Contact, Le Stand, Lyon
Exhibition's Ruins, SAFN Museum, Reykjavik

2006
Dangling Between The Real Thing And The Sign In The Window, Dam, Stuhltrager, New York (cur. James Wagner & Barry Hoggard)
4th international Triennial of Contemporay Art, Istanbul

2005
Superflux, Galerie Tator, Lyon
Videoformes, Clermont-Ferrand

2004
Nuit Blanche, Paris (cur. Hou Hanru)


PERFORMANCES
2014
La Nonne et l'Architecte, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux
Boys Beware, Fondation Ricard, Paris

2013
It Was Very Saint Laurent as Seen Through a Laurel Canyon Haze, with Mary Margaret Rinebold,Whitechapel Gallery, London ; Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Bordeaux ; Public Fiction, Los Angeles
The Black Album (White Dog), Whitechapel Gallery, London

2012
La Monja & El Arquitecto, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Mario Abreu, Maracay

2011
The Nun & The Architect, La Salle de Bains, Lyon

2009
1964: Understanding through Peace, Institut d'art contemporain, Lyon/Villeurbanne


GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES
2014
Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques

2010
Villa Médicis Hors les murs / Institut Français, Los Angeles
2008-2011 Ateliers ADERA, Lyon


EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
2012
An Exhibition to Hear Read, ICA Philadelphia
57e Salon de Montrouge, Paris

2011
Studies for an Exhibition, David Roberts Art Foundation, London
Understanding through Peace, La Salle de Bains, Lyon (cur. Jill Gasparina & Caroline Soyez-Petithomme)

2006
4th international Triennial of Contemporay Art, Istanbul


PUBLICATIONS
2011
Understanding through Peace, ex. cat.

2010
The Nun & the Architect, in An Exhibition to Hear Read, cat. ex., David Roberts Art Foundation,  London

2009
Voids, Centre Pompidou, Paris, ex. cat. (ed. J. Armleder, L. Le Bon, M. Copeland)


PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux
Les arts au mur, Artothèque de Pessac
Musée d'Art Contemporain, Lyon