Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, "Explosion", de la série I think I've forgotten this before, 2022. Courtesy de l’artiste.
Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, "Ça pousse un peu n'importe comment", de la série La Flèche du temps, 2018. Courtesy de l’artiste.
Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, "Ciel", de la série I think I've forgotten this before, 2022. Courtesy de l’artiste.
Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, "Des araignées tendaient des fils pour s'envoler", de la série La Flèche du temps, 2018. Courtesy de l’artiste.
Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, "Dîner", de la série I think I've forgotten this before, 2022. Courtesy de l’artiste.
Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, "Glass door", de la série I think I've forgotten this before, 2022. Courtesy de l’artiste.
Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, "Plage livre", de la série I think I've forgotten this before, 2022. Courtesy de l’artiste.
Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, "Porte cuisine 2", de la série D'après Ramuz, 2023. Courtesy de l’artiste.
Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, "Presse papier", de la série D'après Ramuz, 2023. Courtesy de l’artiste.
Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, "Vomira rouge", de la série D'après Ramuz, 2023. Courtesy de l’artiste.

A Genuine Feeling

Mathieu Bernard-Reymond

8 February – 10 May 2025

Back in 1888, Kodak’s famous slogan read: ‘Press the button, we do the rest’. Driven by industry, the camera was very early on presented to our ancestors as this miraculous machine to which they could give themselves over. It was at a time when photography was entering its digital era that the Franco-Swiss artist Mathieu Bernard-Reymond (1976) entered photography, in the early 2000s. The computer and its so-called ‘image processing’ software take their place in the chain of formation of the photographic image, opening the way to its alterations, subverting the reign of reality. How, we asked ourselves, can the artist create and narrate the world, his world, in the company of this increasingly talkative technology? How can they still do so, now that the technology is intelligent? Far from sidestepping the question, Mathieu Bernard-Reymond has never stopped conversing with digital tools to develop his own minor language.

The exhibition ‘ A Genuine Feeling ’ focuses on the last five years of the artist’s creative output, with a particular emphasis on series that are closely linked to narrative. From snippets of personal memories to the syncopated literature of Ramuz, words call forth images, which the artist allows to decant in her algorithmic crucible. Shots, artificially generated images and collected images are all mixed together. Instead of aiming for the perfection promised by a meticulous handling of these digital tools, he prefers to explore their flaws, so as to immerse a little of the trembling of our human destinies in this world of images full of assurance and empty of experience.

 

The exhibition is supported by the

 

Mathieu Bernard-Reymond is a Franco-Swiss photographer born in Gap, France, in 1976. After studying literature, political science and art history, he turned to photography at the Vevey School in Switzerland.

Since then, he has been involved in exploring new forms of imagery and new practices introduced by the digital age, while remaining committed to an attitude that he defines as photographic.

Bernard-Reymond sees his artistic approach as a poetic exercise in photography, combined with a desire to experiment. He sees creation as a method of discovering multiple truths.

His images manipulate landscape, architecture and information as elements of a constantly evolving language, expanded by generative technologies and data manipulation. Mathieu Bernard-Reymond teaches digital practices at the Centre d’enseignement professionnel in Vevey, Switzerland.

His awards include the HSBC Prize in 2003, the Rencontres d’Arles in 2005, Paris Photo in 2006 and the Arcimboldo Prize in 2009. His work can be found in the collections of the Musée Nicéphore Niepce in France, Photo Élysée in Switzerland, the Fonds national d’art contemporain in France and the Fonds d’art contemporain de Lausanne.