The Bridge Gallery | First Time Exhibitor
| [INTERVIEW] The Bridge Gallery
1. Is there one particular artist or artwork in your presentation at Kiaf SEOUL 2025 that you’d especially like to highlight?
I would like the highlight the practice of south african artist Dale Lawrence.
Dale Lawrence (b.1988) is an artist living and working in Cape Town. Through his work, Lawrence seeks moments of intimacy and invention through the disruption of repetitive processes: in craftsmanship and artistic practice, in familiar language and histories, in habitual behaviours and daily rituals.
Dale Lawrence is known for his multidisciplinary approach, working across text, sculpture, performance, and installation. Blurring the lines between mediums, he creates works that explore repetition, intimacy, and invention. His poetic text-based pieces—printed on paper and covered with thick layers of epoxy—deconstruct language, offering new meanings through acts of fragmentation and recomposition. Constructed from phrases extracted from books, Lawrence’s text-based works highlight the elasticity of words and objects, prompting us to reconsider their role in shaping our realities. As if each work is built from its own remnants, they embody both decay and renewal.
Dale Lawrence, A Lot of Time, A Lot of Pressure, Clear packaging tape, clickbait articles, digital prints on paper, 22x22x20cm, 2024
Dale Lawrence, Travel Backwards, Digital Prints on Paper, Epoxy, 24.5×12.5x5cm, 2024
2. Could you briefly share the curatorial direction or philosophy that guides your gallery?
The Bridge Gallery, founded in early 2023 by Alexandre Fabry and Vianney Salzac, is a Paris-based contemporary art gallery with a particular focus on Africa and its diaspora.
BRIDGE as a conversation between cultures, continents, and generations
BRIDGE as a platform for emerging artists and collectors from different horizons
BRIDGE as a universal language that can be understood and appreciated by everyone
Since its opening, The Bridge Gallery has been an early supporter of a number of international young artists such as Sarfo Emmanuel Annor, JC Bright, Bulumko Mbete and Dale Lawrence, whose work was often first presented in France by the gallery. The gallery now mostly represents artists from around the African continent, including Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.
Guided by a desire to build bridges between artistic scenes and international ecosystems, the gallery has naturally developed a vision anchored in openness, dialogue, and a belief in the transformative power of art. The name “Bridge” was no accident. It symbolizes the gallery’s commitment to connecting artistic scenes.
With a deep understanding of their generation, the gallery’s founders are especially committed to working with artists who reflect its mindset, shaped by shared challenges, a natural fluency with new technologies, and a strong sense of global interconnectedness.
From 2022 to 2024, The Bridge Gallery embraced a nomadic format as a way to forge meaningful connections across geographies, engaging directly with local contexts and communities while expanding the visibility of its artists beyond traditional gallery spaces. Fall 2024, The Bridge Gallery established a permanent presence in the heart of Paris.
3. What are you hoping to gain or experience through your participation in Kiaf for the first time?
Participating in Kiaf for the first time marks an exciting step for The Bridge Gallery. We see this fair as a key gateway into the Asian market, a region whose collectors, institutions, and curators are increasingly influential on the global art scene, especially with the growing importance of Seoul as a global art hub.
It seems that Seoul boasts a younger, enthusiastic, and well-informed collector base, eager to engage with art and learn about new artists and trends. Our aim is to connect with a new network of Korean collectors and professionals who are curious, engaged, and open to diverse contemporary voices. The Bridge Gallery was founded with a strong commitment to presenting emerging and established artists from Africa and its diaspora on the international stage. Kiaf offers a unique opportunity to introduce their work in a new context and foster meaningful conversations across cultures.
We’re particularly excited about the potential for long-term relationships and collaborations with collectors, curators, and institutions in Seoul and beyond.
