Nadja: a Portrait of a City

A research based exhibition curated by Anne Elisabeth Toft at show at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum 1 October - 25 October 2020

This exhibition offers a rereading of one of the most significant works of art of the 20th century - the book Nadja by French surrealist André Breton (1896–1966). The exhibition focuses on Breton's use of photography and on his artistic methods and strategies as expressed in the representation of the city and the urban.

In 1928, just four years after publishing the Surrealist Manifesto, the French author and founding member of the Surrealist movement André Breton wrote the book Nadja. In this book, Breton explores new artistic approaches and modes of expression. The book is not a novel, but a collage of stories and images, in which memory and dream seem to fuse, and photography is a central element. It draws a portrait not only of a woman by the name of Nadja, but also of the city of Paris, which in Breton’s description is fragmented, enigmatic, and labyrinthine. The book Nadja introduces a modern reading of the city and of the urban, mapping places, situations, and events in novel and unexpected ways. The book has been of crucial importance to numerous writers, visual artists, and architects, including Guy Debord, Robert Smithson, and Rem Koolhaas, who found inspiration in the its concept and imagery.