This volume is the result of Ryan Schneider’s residency and solo exhibition at La Citadelle, Villefranche-sur-Mer, during May and June 2025.

This residency allowed for a complete immersion, both physical and spiritual, into the atmosphere of the place. Here, the artist scrapes, carves, strikes wood and stone in a visceral confrontation with matter. Some works were born in the Joshua Tree desert, where the artist lives. Others emerged within the very walls of La Citadelle, in rhythm with Mediterranean days, shifting shadows, the wind, and the filtered light cast through ancient stones.

This marks Ryan Schneider’s first exhibition in Europe. The dialogue between his singular practice and the monumental presence of the site gives rise to a rare, inhabited, organic proposition — an invitation to slow down, to see differently, to feel.
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— Camille Frasca, curator