Olivier Vadrot

Olivier Vadrot was born in 1970. He lives and works in Beaune, Burgundy. Very early on, his career took shape at the crossroads of a number of fields: architecture, design, exhibition curating and scenography, theater and music. In parallel with his studies at the Lyon School of Architecture, he embarked on the collective adventure of Théâtre Pluzdank (1996-2001). He co-founded the contemporary art center La Salle de bains in Lyon (1999), then the Cocktail Designers group (2004), within which he designed several listening devices for music labels (Le Kiosque électronique, 2004; Icosajack, 2007). His stay at Villa Medici as a scenographer (2012-2013) marked an important turning point in his career.

From the Circo minimo conceived during this residency to theCavea Survey, which subsequently led him to survey most of the ancient performance buildings, his personal practice has recently asserted itself by refocusing around micro-architectures for making assembly (Faire c’est dire, 2017), shaping the collective (Les Tribunes, 2015), catalyzing debates (Cavea, 2016). While some of these devices are nomadic, reproducible and ephemeral, reduced to essential forms and made from inexpensive materials, others have been more durably implanted in public space (Conversations, 2018; Orchestre, 2018; Fossiles, 2020). His first monographic work, Mêlées, was published in 2020 by Catalogue Général, Paris.