THE INTENSITY OF SOFTNESSJimmy Robert & Franz Erhard WaltherMarch 29, 2026 – September 6, 2026
Curated by François Piron
The title selected by Jimmy Robert for the exhibition, The Intensity of Softness, cites a shared materiality, the choice by both artists to work primarily with soft materials, such as fabric and paper. These are permeable, flexible and metamorphic materials that can hug the contours of the body yet allow movement, that seem solid but as textile materials are made up of a weave and are tied moreover to the textual. This choice was by no means obvious for Franz Erhard Walther in the 1960s, and seemed like mere provocation in the artist’s working surroundings. Yet he proved to be a pioneer of an art form that emphasised presence, relationship and the impermanence of forms. These terms can also be applied to the work of Jimmy Robert, whose oeuvre since the early 2000s has manifested the presence of the artist's body in performances, photographs and videos that interlace poetic references to literature, choreography and art through quotations and allusions that signal his relationship to beloved figures.
The Intensity of Softness points to a common strategy shared by both artists, one that requires determination and a sense of purpose – of entering the risk of uncertainty and openness to change, to the unknown. The exhibition describes a trajectory between both Walther's and Robert’s works that has presented the opportunity for an exchange: Franz Erhard Walther has conceived a coat element for Jimmy Robert that has prompted a new performance by the artist. The piece will be performed in public on the day of the opening, and a film of it will be screened throughout the exhibition.
François Piron