Gitana 18, a new off the wall work created by Florian and Michael Quistrebert
by Gitana Team 19 Jun 07:00 BST
Gitana 18, a new off the wall work created by Florian and Michael Quistrebert © GITANA S.A
For the past eighteen months, a new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, a 32-metre long and 23-metre wide flying carbon giant, has been taking shape hidden from view behind the doors of the CDK Keroman shed in Lorient. In conjunction with the construction, another project has been occupying the minds of Gitana Team, namely the new graphic identity of the maxi-trimaran, a genuine signature of the five-arrow racing stable and of its founder in particular. More than a livery and a colourisation of the family crest and symbols, Ariane de Rothschild is making a powerful, committed mark here. Indeed, the owner of Gitana has been keen to continue the artistic approach initiated nearly a decade ago with the Palais de Tokyo. On her invitation once again, artists have had a chance to express themselves over the 2,000 m2 expanse that extends across the hulls and sails. In this way, Gitana 18 will be adorned with an original work by Florian and Michael Quistrebert, presented on the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild by Jean-Baptiste Epron.
Edmond de Rothschild and the Palais de Tokyo, an off the wall and on the seas art collaboration
While Gitana 17 is soon to have her new colours unveiled, she will still be as inextricably linked to her major victories like the Route du Rhum and the Arkea Ultim Challenge as she will to the warrior lines painted by Cleon Peterson, the American artist behind her sail plan and her mermaid figurehead. This colossal work, the first of the Palais de Tokyo's creations to take to the sea, not only sublimated this technological jewel but also gave it an identity all of its own.
The Gitana 17 adventure, its success and its place within the Lasco Project, a Palais de Tokyo programme devoted to street art, has cemented a strong bond between Edmond de Rothschild and the institution. This new season of support from Edmond de Rothschild and the decision to take on another sizeable project with the artistic signature of Gitana 18 is a reflection of Ariane de Rothschild's strong conviction: creation is an area of exploration, a vehicle for emotions and a space for dialogue, which transcends disciplines and time. Supporting contemporary talent through ambitious and extraordinary projects has always been a key driver for Edmond de Rothschild, as well as a signature for the Company's values.
The Quistrebert brothers assume Cleon Peterson's mantle
Gitana 17 was sublimated by the warrior lines created by Cleon Peterson. To mark a new stage as well as provide a fresh take on contemporary painting and propel Gitana 18 forward into a new dimension, Ariane de Rothschild has selected a dynamic duo: Florian and Michael Quistrebert stand out for their kinetic relationship with material.
Florian and Michael Quistrebert have been working together since they graduated from Nantes art college in 2007 and they are often nicknamed the 'Brothers of the Shadow', the title of an exhibition in New York in 2010. Navigating a course via series (and zigzags) like a rock group preparing its albums and tours, these alchemist painters have their own take on reactivating an element of the 20th century modernity they synthetise, twist or distort. These 'anti-brothers' of Lumière are continuously shaking up the codes of Fine Arts to manipulate our meaning and open new doors of perception.
Figures from the French stage, nominated for the Prix Marcel Duchamp in 2014, Florian and Michael Quistrebert have regularly exhibited across France and internationally from the Centre Pompidou to the Grand Palais, the CCCOD in Tours, Dundee Contemporary Arts in Scotland, Singer Laren Museum in the Netherlands, Beijing's Guardian Art Center and Istanbul's DIRIMART...
A new identity, a pronounced ambition
Gitana 18 is finally revealing her outline together with her adornment created by the Quistrebert brothers. A painting spanning nearly 2,000 m2 across the hulls and sails: a seemingly minimalist yet mesmerizingly complex fresco, added dot by dot like a protective tattoo inlaid into the carbon skin.
Five faces, inspired by Ariane de Rothschild and her four daughters - Noémie, Alice, Ève and Olivia - emerging from the ocean, sculpted in chiaroscuro. A virtually abstract aesthetic, with sfumato shading, designed to embrace the wind and force curves. More than a painting: a kinetic mythology. The blue and yellow, Gitana's emblematic colours for decades, blend into the black carbon and raw materials favoured for their weight-saving qualities and enable a crossover between beauty and performance. A living work, activated by the elements. An artistic signature for a maxi-trimaran fully geared towards flight.
Jean-Baptiste Epron for the production and Gitana Team for the realization
Whether it is in the architectural design or the graphic realisation, Gitana 18 is the result of a remarkable group effort combining art and technological prowess. Complementing the four-handed work by the Quistrebert brothers is the expertise and aesthetic of Jean-Baptiste Epron who needs no introduction in the domain of offshore racing. Like a director, the graphic designer has worked with the artists using their original designs to adapt them to the constraints of the subject, as well as to the implementation requirements of a race boat like the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild.
Like the large Renaissance yards where the hand of the painter combined with that of the architect, engineer and mathematician, Gitana 18's ornamentation is borne from an augmented studio where art confronts the laws of the wind and force curves.
Ariane de Rothschild, CEO of Edmond de Rothschild, owner of the Gitanas:
"For nearly 150 years, every boat in the Gitana saga has had her own unique story to tell. For a long time, I wanted to invite a contemporary artist to express themselves on one of our multihulls. My ambition went beyond the aesthetic gesture: I wanted to bring about a merging of worlds.
This project came to fruition with Gitana 17. We passed a technological milestone and opened up a new artistic sphere with Cleon Peterson's work.
When I decided to launch another large trimaran, Gitana 18, it was only natural to continue the collaboration with the Palais de Tokyo. With the help of Hugo Vitrani, the Quistrebert brothers felt like the obvious choice. Their pictorial language really spoke to me in 2016, during an installation that explored the vibration of light in painting and then again, a few years later, at the heart of the winery at the Château de Malengin, where they created a series of sculptural works by the name of Vortex, echoing the amphorae of the Cuvée Ève.
For the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, they've created an expanding wave created from waves and faces. A wave which, like an intimate echo, reveals the features of my daughters. To whom I dedicate this new boat."
Guillaume Désanges, President of the Palais de Tokyo:
"8 years on from the original project, I'm thrilled to see the continuation and rebooting of an adventure we greatly cherish. I'm convinced that art must be made and experienced everywhere, for everyone, within the institution and beyond.
It is our mission to present the most contemporary and most daring creation to the widest audience. The Palais de Tokyo is an institution in perpetual motion: open to emerging practices, connected to what is moving, transforming and being invented. I'm also convinced that art must not just be exhibited in enclosed spaces, it must also be unveiled where we least expect it: on walls, in the street, and, why not, on the hulls of boats crossing oceans. And what finer setting for this than a giant of the seas cleaving oceans and worlds to forge deeper connections? I'd like to express my heartfelt thanks to Ariane de Rothschild and her teams for enabling us to embark on the Gitana adventure once again with this new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, and for supporting the rolling out of our artistic ambitions."
Florian and Michael Quistrebert, artists:
"Having the opportunity to express ourselves on a medium like this is both unprecedented and remarkable. We wanted to give these five profiles in our composition a virtually abstract aesthetic with Art Deco vibes to accentuate the conquering, Olympian, or even Amazonian outline. This also echoes our recent series of aero-cubist portraits. For Gitana 18, we've created these five faces emerging from the waves, modelled in chiaroscuro. The shading, which is omnipresent in our work, is both sfumato and a medium for relief: one shape can fade into another in the same way as one shade can fade into the other. In this way, whilst respecting the constraint of pure black and white, we've designed a halftone pattern of white dots on a black background, playing on the way they vary in size to create volume and light."
The new Maxi Edmond de Rothschild
The five-arrow racing stable's future maxi-multihull, Gitana 18 has been in build in Lorient, Brittany, since January 2024 and her launch is announced for the autumn of 2025. This 32-metre-long giant will be fully geared towards flight whilst Gitana 17 was heralded as multi-purpose, which means she was as much Archimedean as a flying machine. Designed to fly earlier, in lighter winds as well as in heavier seas, this large new oceanic multihull brings together the very best that her predecessor had to offer whilst placing even greater emphasis on innovation by relying on all the knowledge and lessons learned over the eight years spent sailing Gitana 17.
Gitana 18's artistic and graphic signature
On an invitation from Ariane de Rothschild
According to an original work by Florian and Michael Quistrebert
Hugo Vitrani (Curator Palais de Tokyo)
Jean-Baptiste Epron (design and realisation)
Les Ateliers d'Olivier (painting), Décosail (hulls), Atelier-sur-Mer (sails)
In numbers:
- 20-month realisation process
- 50,000 study hours
- 200,000 hours of construction
- Start of build: January 2024
- Estimated launch: autumn 2025
- Race name: Maxi Edmond de Rothschild
- Given name: Gitana 18
- LOA: 32 m
- Beam: 23 m
- Mast height: 38 m
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Skipper: Charles Caudrelier
Naval architects: Gitana / Team Verdier design office
Yard / suppliers: CDK Technologies (platform), C3 Technologies (rudders), Re Fraschini (foils), Southern Spars (mast and boom), Harken (deck hardware), North Sails (sails), Guelt (custom mechanical parts)