Letter from the Editor
Saturday, December 28, 2024

Dear _____,

2024 marked PROVENCE’s 15th anniversary, a milestone we celebrated with an array of activities throughout the year. In March, we organized the exhibition An Account of the Luck and Misfortunes of _____ at Etablissement d’en face in Brussels, with contributions from 54 artists. To accompany the show, we released a deck of playing cards, with each card featuring an artwork by one of the participating artists.

In June, during Zurich Art Weekend, we hosted the panel Gallery vs. Agency at Schwarzescafé / Luma Westbau. Together with our panelists—Claire Shiying Li, Marc Spiegler, Balthazar Lovay, Nelly Hoffmann, and Carlo Prada—we explored the changing roles of galleries today and how they might benefit from adopting concepts from the fashion industry’s agency model.

During Art Basel, we launched our anniversary publication, My Alphabet, which compiles selected contributions from the PROVENCE archive and features Lucie Kolb’s new essay The Potential and Limits of Hobby Criticism, reflecting on PROVENCE’s history and strategies. At June Art Fair, we displayed a series of collages on denim created by the PROVENCE collective and friends for an exhibition in Berlin in 2015.

For Systema in Marseille, we made 26 works linked to our anniversary publication, each representing a letter of the PROVENCE Alphabet (A for AMPHETAMINE, B for BANKRUPT, …). Every letter was silkscreened on an individual cardboard box, each containing memories from PROVENCE’s past, archiving them for times to come.

In October La Becque hosted us in La-Tour-de-Peilz for our editorial meeting gone public with special guests Mitchell Anderson, Anya Harrison, Melanie Ohnemus, Alex Scrimgeour, Sabrina Tarasoff, Jeanne-Salomé Rochat, Matthias Sohr, and Rubén Valdez. On this occasion, we produced a special edition titled The Butterfly Effect (Collection V. Nabokov)—a photograph of Vladimir Nabokov’s butterfly collection, housed at the Natural History Museum in Lausanne.

We also sent out 52 newsletters and had 0 involvement in any lawsuits.

For our final mail-out of the year, we invited some friends to share their personal highlights in art, literature, and music from 2024. Find their answers below.

See you in 2025!

Best,
PROVENCE

Lists

PROVENCE

Lucas Jacques-Witz, Giselle’s Books, Marseille
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Ryder Morey-Weale, Sleeping with lights on, Atelier Villeneuve, Marseille
Favorite Song of 2024: Charli XCX ft. Caroline Polacheck - Everything is romantic
Favorite Book of 2024: Huw Lemmey & Ben Miller, Bad Gays: A Homosexual History, Verso Books

Courtesy (Najaaraq Vestbirk), DJ / Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Matthias Groebel, chemical, Schiefe Zähne, Berlin
Favorite Song of 2024: Cybotron - Earth - Edit
Favorite Book of 2024: Geoffrey Mak, Mean Boys: A Personal History, Bloomsbury Publishing

Sung Tieu, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: THERE IS NO THERE THERE, MMK, Frankfurt, curated by Gürsoy Doğtaş und Susanne Pfeffer
Favorite Song of 2024: Maori haka lead by New Zealand MPs in parliament to protest at bill to reinterpret founding treaty
Favorite Book of 2024: Judith Butler, Who’s Afraid of Gender?, Penguin Books

Gigiotto Del Vecchio, Co-founder of Supportico Lopez, Independent curator
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Post Scriptum. A museum forgotten by heart, Macro, Rome, Curated by Luca Lo Pinto
Favorite Song of 2024: Tutti Fenomeni - Valori Aggiunti
Favorite Book of 2024: Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine - a History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance, Profile Books

Concorde
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Munch, Il grido interiore, Palazzo Reale, Milan
Favorite Song of 2024: Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi is Dead
Favorite Book of 2024: Adolf Loos, Ornament and Crime, Vergangenheitsverlag

Henning Strassburger, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Paul Pfeiffer, Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, LA
Favorite Song of 2024: Royel Otis - Oysters in my pocket
Favorite Book of 2024: Fredrik Sjöberg, Vom Aufhören, Kiepenheuer & Witsch

Karl Holmqvist, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Emma Dreaming of California, House of Gaga / Reena Spaulings, LA
Favorite Song of 2024: Loren kramar - I’m a slut
Favorite Book of 2024: Calla Henkel, Scrap, Sceptre

Daniele Milvio, Artist / Art dealer
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Iizuka Tōyō, The Medicine Chest with Herb Design, Nezu Museum, Minato City
Favorite Song of 2024: Damso - Conséquences
Favorite Book of 2024: Antonio Stoppani, Il Bel Paese, Einaudi editore

Han Yu, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: esprit, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf, organized by K.R.M Mooney.
Favorite Song of 2024: -
Favorite Book of 2024: Lucie Kolb, Jonas von Lenthe, Max Stocklosa, Material Marion von Osten 1: MoneyNations, Wirklichkeit Books

Gritli Faulhaber, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Script Memory, Kunsthalle Winterthur, Winterthur, Curated by Geraldine Tedder
Favorite Song of 2024: Mk. gee - Candy
Favorite Book of 2024: Sophia Fritz, Toxische Weiblichkeit, Hanser Verlag

Gianni Jetzer, Director Kunstmuseum St.Gallen
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Biennale Gherdeina, Gröden, curated by Lorenzo Giusti
Favorite Song of 2024: Bongeziwe Mabandla - sisahleleleni (i)
Favorite Book of 2024: Tom Wilkinson, Emergency Money: Notgeld in the Image Economy of the German Inflation, The MIT Press

Fabian Marti, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Surréalisme, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Didier Ottinger & Marie Sarré
Favorite Song of 2024: Blood Incantation – The Stargate (Tablet I-III)
Favorite Book of 2024: Bruce Wagner, The Met Gala & Tales of Saints and Seekers: Two Novellas, Arcade

Nadja Abt, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Anything but Simple: Gift Drawings and the Shaker Aesthetic, American Folk Art Museum, New York, curated by Emelie Gevalt
Favorite Song of 2024: Albums by Mary Lattimore
Favorite Book of 2024: Elif Batuman, Either/Or, Penguin Press

Hinrich Sachs, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: UDO IS LOVE — Eine Reise in das unfassbare Leben des Udo Kier, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Köln, Curated by Valérie Knoll & Hans-Christian Dany
Favorite Song of 2024: Children of Besondere Volksschule Bern - Cover version of “Wünsch dir was” (Die Toten Hosen, 1993, recorded in March , released in December 2024)
Favorite Book of 2024: Nikole Hannah-Jones, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, One World / Penguin Random House

Heidi Specker, Photographer
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Mike Kelley, Ghost & Spirit, K21, Düsseldorf
Favorite Song of 2024: Henry Purcell - Remember me ( Dido’s Lament)
Favorite Book of 2024: Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead, dtv

Daniel Horn, Art Historian
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Alberto Burri, Cretto di Gibellina, Gibellina & Christoph Büchel, Monte di Pietà, Fondazione Prada, Venice
Favorite Song of 2024: Dee D. Jackson - Automatic Lover
Favorite Book of 2024: César Aira, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, New Directions

Hannah Halbheer, Art Advisor
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Kimsooja, carte blanche « To Breathe — Constellation », Bourse de Commerce, Paris
Favorite Song of 2024: Frank Sinatra - New York, New York
Favorite Book of 2024: Alex Capus, Das Leben ist gut, Hanser Verlag

Leonie Radine, Curator, Museion – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano/Bozen
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Ei Arakawa-Nash, Ei Arakawa-Nash: Paintings are Popstars, The National Art Center, Tokyo
Favorite Song of 2024: Mk.gee - Are You Looking Up (especially in its live-video version: https://youtu.be/z0pzzkp85-Q)
Favorite Book of 2024: Sanzo Wada, A Dictionary of Color Combinations - Vol. 1, Seigensha Art Publishing (late discovery but books never get old, plus it’s back in stock after being sold out)

Jan Koslowski, Director / Writer
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Ferdinand Dölberg, working is the beginning of all evil, Galerie Anton Janizeweski, Berlin
Favorite Song of 2024: Sampagne  - call me
Favorite Book of 2024: Philipp Schönthaler, Wie rationale Maschinen romantisch wurden KI, Kreativität und algorithmische Postrationalität, Matthes & Seitz Berlin

Robin Waart, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Ulises Carrión, Bookworks and Beyond, Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery, Princeton
Favorite Song of 2024: Waxahatchee - Tomorrow
Favorite Book of 2024: Anne Garréta, Not One Day (Pas un jour), Deep Vellum Publishing

Erik Swars, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: unexpected illegal offspace exhibition in Hamburg
Favorite Song of 2024: JK FLESH - ECM0101
Favorite Book of 2024: Armen Avanessian, Daniel Falb, Planeten Denken - Hyper-Antizipation und Biografische Tiefenzeit, Merve Verlag

Tobi Maier, Chief Curator, Amant, Brooklyn, NY
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Jenna Bliss - Basic Cable, Dietmar Busse - Fairytales 1991–1999, Loretta Fahrenholz - A Coin from Thin Air, Amant, Brooklyn / NY
Favorite Song of 2024: Thee Church Ov Acid House - Vol. 3
Favorite Book of 2024: Cristine Brache, Goodnight Sweet Thing, aP

Jiajia Zhang, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Mili Weber Museum, St. Moritz
Favorite Song of 2024: Kim Gordon - BYE BYE
Favorite Book of 2024: Marie Darrieussecq, Being here is everything - THE LIFE OF PAULA MODERSOHN-BECKER, Semiotext(e)

Julius Woeste, Gallerist, Petrine, Paris
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: John Knight, Referential Elegance, O-Town House, Los Angeles
Favorite Song of 2024: The Spinanes - Kid in Candy
Favorite Book of 2024: Jimmy DeSana, Quotations from Jimmy DeSana, Primary Information

Mai-Thu Perret, Artist
Favorite Exhibition of 2024: Amy Sillman, Oh, Clock!, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern
Favorite Song of 2024: Kendrick Lamar - man at the garden
Favorite Book of 2024: Ariana Reines, Wave of Blood, Divided Publishing