l'artiste portatif [2003]
(The portable artist ) Group project and exhibition.
[click on images to enlarge]
The title and part of the curatorial line behind this exhibition are inspired by The Shandy Conspiracy by Enrique Vila-Matas (a fictionalized report of a society of writers and artists created by Walter Benjamin and Marcel Duchamp amongst others).
According to Vila-Matas' book Historia abreviada de la literatura portátil, a great degree of madness, a lack of greater purposes, insolence, a tense relationship with the double-self, sympathy for the darkness and relentless nomadism were required to be a part of this Society. Another indispensable requirement was to have a body of work easily transportable, light, and that could travel in a suitcase.
In these days, where each artist travels with a computer à la boîte-en-valise, references to portability change continuously. The DIY, IKEA, the diplomatic valise, the possibility to "fit" everything from a video to a complete exhibition into a hard disc, set a new frame of reference to the portable, semi-recyclable art. The complaint of the confused audience has changed from "any one could do it" to "anyone could put it together."
Having the above in mind, artists in this exhibition were invited to send a work of art that could be transported to Paris in a box not exceeding 15 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm and 15 kilos. The work, once displayed, could have any dimensions. The work proposed by the artists resolves in a very ingenious manner the assignment and transposes the condition of portability to the artist rather than the work.
The catalog for L’artiste portatif was designed by Bernardo Loyola and comes –of course- in a self-assambly presentation and includes a set of instructions given by the artists for you to reproduce their work at home.
In the words of Vila-Matas, himself guessing the words of Duchamp: The portable artist or, for that purpose, someone you can easily take anywhere.
Participating artists: Matmos, Wilson Díaz, Sigur Rós + Floria Sigismondi, Böl, Måns Wrange, Gonzalo Lebrija, Natalia Blanch + Guillermo Daghero, Erla Haraldsdóttir, Fernando Palomar, Ediciones «El Chino», Joachim Koester, Vincent + Feria and a special project by Curt Cloninger.
Details about each artist's work. Press release in French.
l'artiste portatif [2003]
(The portable artist ) Group project and exhibition.
[click on images to enlarge]
The title and part of the curatorial line behind this exhibition are inspired by The Shandy Conspiracy by Enrique Vila-Matas (a fictionalized report of a society of writers and artists created by Walter Benjamin and Marcel Duchamp amongst others).
According to Vila-Matas' book Historia abreviada de la literatura portátil, a great degree of madness, a lack of greater purposes, insolence, a tense relationship with the double-self, sympathy for the darkness and relentless nomadism were required to be a part of this Society. Another indispensable requirement was to have a body of work easily transportable, light, and that could travel in a suitcase.
In these days, where each artist travels with a computer à la boîte-en-valise, references to portability change continuously. The DIY, IKEA, the diplomatic valise, the possibility to "fit" everything from a video to a complete exhibition into a hard disc, set a new frame of reference to the portable, semi-recyclable art. The complaint of the confused audience has changed from "any one could do it" to "anyone could put it together."
Having the above in mind, artists in this exhibition were invited to send a work of art that could be transported to Paris in a box not exceeding 15 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm and 15 kilos. The work, once displayed, could have any dimensions. The work proposed by the artists resolves in a very ingenious manner the assignment and transposes the condition of portability to the artist rather than the work.
The catalog for L’artiste portatif was designed by Bernardo Loyola and comes –of course- in a self-assambly presentation and includes a set of instructions given by the artists for you to reproduce their work at home.
In the words of Vila-Matas, himself guessing the words of Duchamp: The portable artist or, for that purpose, someone you can easily take anywhere.
Participating artists: Matmos, Wilson Díaz, Sigur Rós + Floria Sigismondi, Böl, Måns Wrange, Gonzalo Lebrija, Natalia Blanch + Guillermo Daghero, Erla Haraldsdóttir, Fernando Palomar, Ediciones «El Chino», Joachim Koester, Vincent + Feria and a special project by Curt Cloninger.
Details about each artist's work. Press release in French.
