Le Quotidien de l'Art, The Tobacco Files soloshow

The Tobacco Files, solo show by Laëtitia Badaut Haussmann - GALERIE ALLEN, presented by the Franklin Azzi Endowment Fund until 27 November.

‘The project was started by the French artist last year in Vienna, Austria, and continued during her residency at Franklin Azzi Architecture, which launched its endowment fund for contemporary art 4 years ago. The result of iconographic research carried out with a contextual approach and inspired by Adam Kurtis's analyses of mass manipulation, this solo show highlights the evolution of the representation of the tobacco industry over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. From its promotion by American brands in adverts showing cowboys with cigarettes in their mouths and smiles on their lips to the prevention campaigns of recent years... However, the artist's work is not to be seen as an injunction or a scientific presentation: it is a ‘compulsive’ compilation of visuals put together without following any chronology or hierarchy - the archiving of 10,000 images printed in colour and of variable dimensions in plastic sleeves, stacked in large A4 binders left free for visitors to leaf through’.

Franklin Azzi and his team are hosting a residency for Laëtitia Badaut Haussmann in their architectural practice as part of the ‘Les MAGNETiques’ programme supported by the Direction des Affaires Culturelles Île-de-France, Paris-Île de France Capitale Économique and Beaux Arts Consulting.