Yann Toma


Yann Toma born in 1969 in is both an artist and a researcher, the lifelong president of the company Ouest-Lumière and an artist-observer within the UN, where he sits as an entrepreneurial artist.
With projects always anchored in a societal context, Yann Toma's fundamental idea is to rebuild the link. Connecting with ourselves, our collective memory, and the transforming power generated by the mass, art is used here as a means of materializing energy flows but also as an energy in its own right.
Yann Toma is a French contemporary artist and a researcher. He positions his work and his reflection on the border of the artistic expression, always involved in political and social events. Toma places the artist as responsible for social debate. As a mediator he can invite people to get involved, to take part of a collaborative energy.
Toma collaborates with entreprises, political scientists as well as philosophers. By salvaging material from former electric power company Ouest-Lumière in the early 1990s, he has appropriated a symbolic network, an industrial infrastructure which he turned into his research territory and the very matter of his activity. Toma, president for life of Ouest Lumière, is also an artist-observer within the U.N where he sits as an entrepreneurial artist.

Artistic energy

Toma developed the concept of artistic energy. He appropriated a symbolic network, an infrastructure coming from factories of which he made his territory of research and the subject of his activity. "Ouest-Lumière" is above all about an immaterial network which the artist established patiently, a network of subterranean resistance resting on the notion of memory and report.
His personal but collaborative exhibition Dynamo-Fukushima, exhibited at the Grand Palais for the Heritage Days of September 2011, attracted more than 17,000 people in two days. This focus on collective energy and solidarity, after the nuclear disaster of Fukushima in this case, is the tone of Toma's favorite topic.

Career positions

The artist is also a PHD professor and a researcher in University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne where he manages the team of research CNRS, named " Art & Flux " which is as much a look-out post, an observatory of theoretical and critical research, as a laboratory of experiment and artistic production. Art & Flux reports in a critical way what connects the art, the economy and the society. He is the author of the collective work Les entreprises critiques and of Artistes & Entreprises.

Collections

The artistic work of Toma is part of numerous collections. His work is integrated in particular into the collection of Centre Georges Pompidou and was put in the inventory of the National Art Collection of Contemporary Art in 2007. He is represented by, in New York. A monography, entitled "Yann Toma", went out to September 2011 which presents the extent of his work and artistic flux of the President for life of Ouest-Lumière. His personal participative exhibition in the Grand Palais Dynamo-Fukushima gathered more than 17,000 visitors in two days.
The French national memorial created for the centennial of the World War I is the last monumental artwork of the artist. At night, the monument called L'Anneau de la mémoire becomes and the memory of 580,000 soldiers keeps shining when the visitors are gone.

Artistic route

Personal exhibitions

1992, 1994
  • Élaboration du Mémorial de l'Usine Ouest Lumière, Espace EDF, Puteaux, France
1997
1998
  • Plovdiski noshti, Alliance Française of Bulgaria and Gallery Gamma, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
1999
  • Ostension de Rose HEIM, 'La hune' Bookshop, Paris, France
  • Les nuits de Plovdiv, Affaires culturelles de la Ville de Paris, AFAA, Paris
2000
  • Restes lumière, Galerie Valérie Cueto, Paris, France
2001
  • Crimes sur commande, Espace huit novembre, Paris, France
2002
  • Contrôle qualité, Patricia Dorfmann Galery, Paris, France
  • Ouest-Lumière – Laboratoire de recherche, Patricia Dorfmann Galery, Paris, France
  • Début de transmission, Cité internationale universitaire de Paris, France
2003
2004
  • "Ouest-Lumière", The Brewers, Liège, Belgium
  • Traitement de faveur, La Blanchisserie, Boulogne, France
2005
  • Ouest-Lumière 1905–2005, CCC, Tours
  • Flux radiants et Transmission Annecy,, Castle museum, Annecy
  • Ouest-Lumière, Center of art La Passerelle, Brest, France
2006
2007
  • Part de jouissance 2, Centre d'art contemporain d'Épinal, Épinal, France
2008
  • Ouest-Lumière la collection, Museum EDF Electropolis, Mulhouse, France
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
  • TRANSvision, light work and video installation, main guest of Montrouge Biennale, Le Beffroi, Montrouge, France
  • TRANScorp. light transmission, interactive and permanent artwork, La Briqueterie, Vitry-sur-Seine, France
  • The Man in Gold, Alvin Alto Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
2014
  • Observations on Secrecy, Surveillance and Censorship, drawings, "Logan Symposium", The Barbican Centre, London
  • Climate March & General Assembly, engagement and civic investigation, New York, United States
  • La Grande Veilleuse, monumental work mixing light and architecture, in collaboration with the architecture agency AAPP. French national memorial of the World War I, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, France
  • PLASMA, personal exhibition around the series "Les Restitutions". Bourouina Gallery, Berlin
2015
  • Human Energy, monumental and participative installation, Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
  • Climate Statements, portraits of States Chiefs drawn at the UN headquarters, Espace Krajcberg, Paris, France
2016
  • Liberty Light, Eiffel Tower, Paris, New-York
  • Flux Radiants : l'énergie que nous avons en nous, photographie, Peugeot Avenue, Pekin, China
  • Drawings about Wikileaks, Variation Paris Media Artfair, during FIAC, Paris, France
  • Sculptures, Société de Service, Plateforme, Paris, France
  • Flux Radiants, Art of Change 21 à la COP22, Le Riad Yima, Marrakech, Maroc
  • Câbles Ouest-Lumière, in Sociétés de service, Plateforme, Paris, France
  • Energetic Cover, photographie, Socialter, France
  • YEW : Youth Energy Water, oeuvre monumenatale participative, La Manera de Marrakech, Morocco
  • Human Greenergy, oeuvre monumentale participative, Baitaisi White Dagoba Temple, Beijing Design Week, Beijing, China
  • Human Lux, installation, Musée de l'Homme, IHEST Ministère de la Recherche, Paris, France
  • Ouest-Lumière Papers Show, dessins/drawings, Incognito Art Club, Paris, France
  • Signing Ceremony, drawings, General Assembly, United Nations, New York, United States
  • Change Power, Portraits Logan Symposium, BCC, Berlin, Germany
2017
2018
  • Réactivation Ouest-Lumière, Espace Immanence, Paris, France
2019
  • Transmission IV: Freedom for plants and the new pact for humanity, France-Romania Season, Institut Français, Timișoara, Romania
  • Transmission III: listen to the secrets of the world, Saison France-Romania, Institut Français, Iași, Romania
  • Brain Plants, Saison France-Roumanie, Institut Français, Victoria Gallery, Iași, Romania
  • In situ work, Saison France-Roumanie, Institut Français, Central de Interes, Iași, Romania
  • Transmission II : The one who speak to the plants, International Light Day, Saison France-Roumanie, Institut Français, Cluj, Romania
  • Transmission I : Words of love & wishes for the world, Institut Français, Bucharest, Romania

Collective exhibitions

1994
  • Regard, Carottages en terre de l'Usine Ouest Lumière, Unesco, Paris, France
1995
  • Chez l'un, Cercles d'ampoules, Anton Weller Gallery, Paris, France
1996
  • La réserve des blancs manteaux, L'atelier parisien, Paris, France
  • Chez l'un, Cabinet alchimique, Anton Weller Gallery, Paris – Biennale de Champigny, Mausolée de l'ouvrier inconnu, Champigny, France
  • Monument et modernité, Espace Electra, Paris, France
  • Chez l'un, Camera obscura, Anton Weller Gallery, Paris, France
1997
  • Réveillons-nous, Sous l'asphalte, Anton Weller Gallery, Valentin, Météo, Paris, France
  • Renvoi d'ascenseur – Opération Sztreminski, Musée cinématographique de Łódź, Poland
  • Le complot, institut Cochin de génétique moléculaire, Paris, France
  • Empoussièrement du musée Napoléonien, Ministry of Culture, Fontainebleau, France
1998
  • Bruits secrets, Silicates de sodium, CCC, Tours, France
  • Ostension 1, EDF-ACT 91- City hall of La Norville, France
1999
  • 9.0, Ostension du corps de Marianne Ripp, Web Bar, Paris, France
  • Un lieu en travaux, Garage de soucoupes volantes, IUFM d'Étiolles, Étiolles – FIAC, Les Extases, Anton Weller Gallery, Paris, France
  • Bateau Laboratoire, Paris vu du ciel, Espace Bateau Lavoir, Paris, France
  • Biennale des jeunes créateurs d'Europe et de la Méditerranée, Variation pour cinq housses, Rome, Italy
  • Events, Crimes sur commande, Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris, France
  • Work-shop, Variation pour quatre housses, Anton Weller Gallery, Paris, France
  • Nécropolis, Ostension du corps de Laurent Claquin, Georges-Philippe and Nathalie Vallois Gallery, Paris
2000
  • aaa, archiving as art, Ouest-Lumière télémarketing, Isea, Paris, France
  • Work shop, Images-flash, UFR 04, Paris, France
  • Trafic de clones, Le cabinet M, Ivry
  • L'art contemporain au risque du clonage, Le représentant, Vert le Petit
  • Élémentaire, L'AFFAIRE de l'église St-Germain, Amiens
  • L'incurable mémoire des corps, Le lieu de l'Incurable, Ivry-sur-Seine
  • Immanence, White houses, Infiltration, Paris – Argos project, Infiltration, Vevey, Switzerland
  • Usine, ouvrier-ouvrière, Paris, France
  • Lumière aux Cordeliers, Variation pour trente-six housses, Couvent des Cordeliers, Paris
  • Sous l'asphalte, Ostension of the body of Stéphane Pianacci, CFDT, Paris, France
  • Emplacement-déplacement IV, II ostension du corps de Marianne Ripp, Anton Weller Gallery, Paris.
  • Emplacement-Déplacement III, Ostension du corps de Nathalie F, Anton Weller Gallery, Paris, France
2001
  • Quand l'art contemporain s'expose au débat public, Traversées, ARC Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
  • Facteur de troubles, Paris West University Nanterre La Défense, Nanterre
  • Effervescence, Contrôle qualité, Georges-Philippe and Nathalie Vallois Excitement, Quality control, Paris
  • Personal light, Organismus, Kunsthauss, Hamburg, Germany – Dix poumons, In association with Goran Vejvoda, MNAM Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
  • Jardin d'émotions, Specimen Ouest-Lumière, Musée Vera, Saint-Germain-en-Laye
  • Immersion périscopique, BATTERY SHOP, MACHINE SHOP, ELECTRICAL SHOP, Centre d'art de Soissons
  • Situation, Dix séances au rayon violet, Institut d'astrophysique, Paris, France
  • Rouge, extase n°2 et l'AFFAIRE du boulevard de Reuilly, Valérie Cueto Gallery, Paris, France
2002
  • Sémaphore 1, Salon du patrimoine, Caroussel du Louvre, Paris, France
  • Fête des lumières, Transmission Pernon, Lyon
  • Nuit blanche, Transmission Oberkampf, Paris – Flux radiants, La friche de la belle de mai, Marseille
  • Star 67, Ouest-Lumière production, Brooklyn, New York
2003
  • Showroom #3 : Imposture légitime, Patricia Dorfmann Gallery, Paris
  • Ma petite entreprise, Centre d'art de Meymac, Meymac
  • Crime de Nathalie F , FIAC, Patricia Dorfmann Gallery, Paris, France
  • Vies à vies , Parcours Saint-Germain, Paris, France
2004
  • Nu radiant , FIAC, Patricia Dorfmann Galery, Paris, France
  • Transmission Ivry, Exposition Polyptyque, Ivry sur Seine
  • Nous assurons votre avenir énergétique, La rue aux artistes, Viacom, 300 4/3 panels in all France
  • Shelter Ouest-Lumière, Le Vent des forêts, forêt de Marcaulieu
  • Affaire du museum Franz Gertsch, Kallmann Museum, Munich, Germany
  • Chambre de contrôle, Espace EDF Electra, Paris, France
  • Douce France, Culturgest, Lisbon, PortugalTrue Lies, Musée Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf, Switzerland
2005
  • FIAC, Service des Armes de destruction massive – Destruction de 7000 magazines Technikart, Ouest-Lumière
  • Neuf Crimes sur commandes, Patricia Dorfmann Galery, Paris, France
  • Chromoscaphe 1, Laboratoires du Musée du Louvre, Paris
  • Lancement du Radion, Art A3, Paris, France
  • Pit of the company Ouest-Lumière, Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants, Paris, France
  • Crimes sur commande, Face à Faces, AFAA, Artcurial, Paris, France
2006
  • Walls of Neemrana, École des Beaux arts, Rouen, France
  • Soucoupe volante, Les Peintres de la vie moderne, Georges Pompidou Center, Donation Collection photographique de la Caisse des Dépôts
  • Face to Faces, AFAA, Stockholm, Sweden
  • État du monde, Espace III, Toulouse
  • Face to Faces, AFAA, Edinburgh, Scotland
  • Face to Faces, AFAA, Reykjavík, Iceland
  • Dormir, rêver... et autres nuits, CAPC, Bordeaux
  • Face à Faces, AFAA, Maison Rouge, Paris, France
2007
  • Inondazione, Luce di Pietra, Palais Farnèse, Ambassade de France, Rome, Italy
2008
  • L'argent, Ouest-Lumière Stock Exchange, Le plateau, Paris
  • Biennale di Alessandria "Shapes of time", Alessandria, Italy
  • MONEY,, Sino Company, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • Whats'up 2009, Bourouina Gallery, Berlin
  • Art Paris 2008, Patricia Dorfmann Galery, Grands Palais, Paris, France
2009
  • The wealth of nations, Patricia Dorfmann Galery, Paris, France
  • Flux, Paris Photo, Patricia Dorfmann Galery, Paris, France
  • GENIPULATION, Centre Pasquart, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
  • Face to face, Musée de la photographie, Thessaloniki, Greece
  • Geysir, Musée National d'art contemporain, Thessaloniki, Greece
  • Weak signals / Wild cards, Tentoonstelling, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Princess Frog, Jozsa Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
  • Art Brussels International Art Fair, Bourouina Gallery, Belgium
  • JOIN US, BVA & YT, the Armory Show, New York
  • Wealth of nations, Patricia Dorfmann Galery, Paris, France
2010
  • Hypothèses Vérification, Laboratoire art & science, Moscow, Russia
  • Ouest-Lumière CO2 Storage, Le pire n'est jamais certain , Chapelle des Templiers, Metz, France
2011
  • Art & Bicyclette, Espace d'art concret, commissariat Paul Ardenne Fabienne Fulchéri, Mouans-Sartoux
  • Genius Loci, Hôtel Fonfreyde, Centre photographique, commissariat Garance Chabert, Clermont-Ferrand
  • Art et argent, liaisons dangereuses, Musée de la Monnaie de Paris, Paris
  • Lumière Noire, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, kurator Alexander Eiling, Germany
  • Rupture mon amour, Maison des Arts de Malakoff, commissariat de Aude Cartier, France – Lumière Noire, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Germany
  • Monumental, Musée de Belfort
  • Rupture mon amour, La Maison des Arts, Malakoff
2013
  • Somaflux, "D-light, 3ème édition", Happen Space Accenture, Paris, France
  • World Energizing, art fair Show Off, Espace Cardin, Paris, France
  • "Æsthetic Transactions" with Carsten Höller, Tatiana Trouvé, ORLAN. Michel Journiac Gallery, Paris
  • CO2 Storage, Art Paris Art Fair, Bourouina Gallery. Grand Palais, Paris, France
  • Flux Radiants, "Brincar com a Luz", Rio, Brazil
  • Occupy Laguardia, "Figures du sommeil", Jean Collet Gallery, Vitry-sur-Seine, France
  • Cabine à flux 1,2 et 3 en collaboration avec Mathieu Lehanneur, JWT/Maison Cailler/ Nestlé, at Broc, Genève then Zurich, Suisse
2014
  • Les Restitutions, art fair Show Off Variation, Espace des blancs manteaux, Paris, France
  • Sculptures Wikileaks, "Absurde, vous avez dit absurde?", Les Filles du Calvaire Gallery, Paris, France
  • Walls of Neemrana/ Dynamo-Fukushima, "Ensemble", De facto La Gallery, Paris
  • Video installation Dynamo-Fukushima, "Velodream, Art & Bike", Wroclaw, Poland
  • Ouest-Lumière, "Business Model, Entreprises d'Artiste", La Vitrine AM, Paris, France
  • Sidération du Général André Bach, ''"Fusillés pour l'exemple – Les fantômes de la République", Hôtel de ville, Paris, France
2015
  • Statements, portraits of States Chiefs drawn at the UN headquarters, Drawing Now Paris, Carreau du Temple, Paris, France
  • Human Dynamo/ CO2 storage/ Les Restitutions, "Post-Carbone", headquarter of La Poste Group, Paris, France
2016
  • Drawings about Wikileaks, Variation, Artfair, during FIAC, France
  • Sculptures, Société de Service, Plateforme, Paris, France
2018
  • Ex Voto, Sourcil du Président à vie de Ouest-Lumière, in Rikiki 2, Galerie Satellite, Paris, France
  • Ouest-Lumière, in 20 years of the EDF Foundation, Espace EDF Electra, Paris, France
  • COLLECTION DAVID H. BROLLIET, GENEVA,, Art Basel, Saint-Louis, France
  • White Card, Festival MAD, Editions Baudouin Jannink, Hôtel de la monnaie, Paris, France
  • Holistic Schemas, UFO Festival, Nice, France
  • Lacry-Mots, in Christmas Project, Immanence/New Immanence, Paris, France
2019
  • Morse transmission, Cluj Never Sleep Festival, Cluj, Romania
  • "Tropical/exotic gardens, Workshop "Art, gardens, scenography, and sustainable development", Panthéon Sorbonne, Palermo, Italy
2023
  • Calendar Kopice | Restitutions | 2024''

Prizes and awards

  • 2022 : Knight of the Order of the French Legion of Honor.
  • 2019 : Prize of the "Transitioner of the Year", Fondation des transitions, France.
  • 2014 : Medal of honor from the city of Montrouge
  • 2004 : FIACRE DAP, France
  • 2002 : Prize of the social Artwork of the year, APC, city of Lyon
  • 1997 : AFAA/Mairie de Paris, City hall of Paris
  • 1995 : Fondation EDF

Publications

Books by Yann Toma

Yann Toma, Monograph, under the direction of Yann Toma, Foreword Édouard Glissant, 10 authors, Éditions Jannink, Paris,, 672 illustrations, 2011.Les entreprises critiques/Critical companies, bilingual, Cité du design Éditions/CERAP Éditions-Publishing, Saint-Étienne, France, 2008Ouest-Lumière – La Collection, Éditions Jannink, Paris,, 2008Part de jouissance, Éditions Jannink, Paris, 2007Abri mode d'emploi, Michel Baverey Éditions, Paris, 2003Plovdiski Noschti, AFAA, Victoires Éditions, Paris, 1999Crimes sur commande, Victoires Éditions, Paris, 1998
  • In association with Richard Conte and M. Tabeaud, L’Usine dans l’espace francilien, la Sorbonne publishing, 2001
  • Supervised by Yann Toma, La Cheminée phosphorescente, Victoires publishing, 2000

Books about Yann Toma

Yann Toma, Monography, Supervised by Yann Toma, Foreword Édouard Glissant, 10 authors, Éditions Jannink, Paris,, 672 pages, illustrations, 2011.Yann Toma, Journal-affiche numéro 1, François Noudelmann, Monography in English / French, Editions Jannink, Paris,, 2009.Ouest-Lumière, Paul Ardenne, Isthme Éditions, FIACRE DAP, 128p, Paris, 2004.La cheminée phosphorescente, S. Wright, V. Da Costa, C. Bayle, Victoires Éditions, 64p, Paris, 2000.