A chat with Geraldine Postel about Continuumdecom photos by David Godichaud

Dear Shaded Viewers,

What was your entry point from physical gallery spaces to creating virtual ones?

In 2017, I faced the necessity to rethink my way of showing art.

It felt that white walls were becoming unnecessary expenses, as the artworks exhibited were either being sold on the first days of the show and after that, on view for a limited time. Nothing was reminiscent as the beautiful exhibitions vanished with renewals, I did not like that rhythm anymore, monthly, bi-weekly shows… Luckily, I have other occupations, but gallery sitting was never my thing. I like to build projects and see them come true, in print, in digital , while gardening…Being creative , it’s an obsession,  as resistance to death as Deleuze would quote… but I never considered myself an artist alone, I like to create things in teams… call it what you want. Also I did not want to depend anymore_ as most of galleries do_ on fashion brands to rent my gallery for their showrooms in order to help cover Parisians rentals which are awfully high these days. Therefore, I decided it was time to build a virtual gallery. At the time, the collector and curator David Magnin and I were dreaming of a space in nature, and in preparation of this next step, we exhibited pieces from our collection on a co-curated an exhibition that gave birth of our first virtual exhibition space DMGP Observatory https://continuumdecom.com/#001

 

I am particularly interested in the world you created for Zenz Paris; can you walk me through that.

Thank you, Diane, it is a design project in process triggered by the joint impulse of Olivier Bergeron accompanied by top engineers and myself.  The concept is to gather ancestral methods of relaxation, massages and mediation with new protocols of technology and design. https://continuumdecom.com/#Design Covid has slowed us down on its development, but the wood from eco foresting is still drying to receive the finishes and integration of technical aspects. For now, it remains a teaser, but its coming !

 

I see you have created corporate spaces; how does that work exactly?

 

Early 2000, I initiated an interior project series entitled Ideal Office. We were aiming at creating new works spaces including art and design in corporations to environments where employees could ideally and comfortably express their enthusiasm and will power to progress in their work.  I liked to call it a concept of “liberal utopia », I love playing with words and ambivalences, to create new areas of expression and weave new interactions. With the support of Laurent Denize D’estrées founder of 14septembre agency, we gave carte blanche on a fancy design editors list and the artists were conceiving our spaces, color codes , circulations, ambiances, and with my team, we were the test subjects of our own lab: IDEAL OFFICE.

Consecutively 5 artists participated in this project and we experienced a great adventure supported by really good press, in order of appearances with Devon Dikeou , Dike Blair, Miltos Manetas, Laurent Saksik and Stéphane Magnin.  Some pieces went to museums like to MAMCO Geneva (Devon Dikeou and Stéphane Magnin) , others were re-created for APPLE EXHIBITION  to receive the journalists (Laurent Saksik), we also designed 2 spaces for SONY PLAYSTATION, a press office and their entrance hall of the headquarter SONY COMPUTER & ENTERTAINEMENT avenue de Wagram. Not to mention that Miltos Manetas is actually the first artist that has created an NFT, with his artists group NEEN founded in 2003 at Gagosian NYC…

 

Since COVID 19, with remote work, the idea re-emerged to have Virtual Ideal Offices

https://continuumdecom.com/#Corporate which can be applied to any company. Here the idea is to incarnate your own role in your company physically or remotely with personalized avatars and dream meeting areas…. So we designed the CONTINUUM DE COM  headquarter lobby and gallery with an exhibition of Philippe Clemenceau’s digital drawings “Portraits of Nymphéas” after Claude Monet…

 

For example, the jewellery that is virtually shown on your site, is it to remain digital for the metaverse?

It can be either, a click to retail object of desire, or a metaverse to discover an accessory collection.

The jewellery piece is an example of how we could present accessories, and make a film in an enchanted universe and/or create brand content, relay thematic or aesthetics of a collection with a new way of communicating while introducing gamification in PR and marketing…

Do you have plans to create virtual spaces for the metaverse?

Yes, it’s a work in progress already, and applicable in many areas: art, educational spaces, services or virtual offices.

You are in the process of creating your avatar, can you tell me more about that and is this for gaming?

It’s like a giant puzzle where the pieces are finally getting into place, we will gradually announce our partnerships with France’s largest photogrammetry studio and other talents that can master every step to reach a functional metaverse. Chatting avatars presenting art or services. You don’t need to go across the world spending zillions of dollars to create your universe anymore, France has managed to raise a good number of talents, we should encourage them !

Creating dreams has been one of my motivations to work in the art and fashion business, with new technologies we are reaching new spheres and forms of expression and I find it very exciting! In fact, developing virtual worlds truly helped me to keep a balance between the real world and the ones we’d rather live in…Lets see what this avatar will be ready to face in its virtual life…

For now, it’s a real challenge, to stay creative and pertinent in each destination, let’s be daring, I see it  gently simmering, as it is still in the beginnings in client’s heads, and it can seem complicated for many, but it’s easy and its real, even if it happens in cyber space…

Thank you Geraldine, I look forward to seeing where this takes you.

Later,

Diane

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Diane Pernet

A LEGENDARY FIGURE IN FASHION and a pioneer of blogging, Diane is a respected journalist, critic, curator and talent-hunter based in Paris. During her prolific career, she designed her own successful brand in New York, costume designer, photographer, and filmmaker.

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