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The exhibition
Bricolages takes place in three thurgovian art institutions,
totally or partly allocated to contemporary creation: the
Kunstraum Kreuzlingen, the Kunstmuseum
des Kantons Thurgau in Ittingen and the Projektraum of
the Shed im Einsewerk in Frauenfeld.
In a period
of time where technology is omnipresent, where overabundance
has erected recycling as a crucial necessity, and where everyone
is able to create its own little firm in his garage, it's
seems fascinating to probe what the "do it yourself" notion
means in the contemporary art field.
"Do it
yourself", a term that has for a long time dragged a pejorative
meaning _ it is still sometimes nowadays the case_ a work
of à peu près, "fast done, wrong done". This until Claude
Lévi-Strauss in "La pensée sauvage" (1962) has conferred a
new aura to the word. It is in the extension of his analyse
that the notion of tinkering interests us. The representation
of the world that inscribes the handyman's figure who develops
his own activity, is partly opposed to the engineer's one,
whose action field results of the application of a theoretical
knowledge.
The artists,
ads Lévi-Strauss, inherit at once from the scientist and the
handyman's knowledge: with craftsmen means, he makes a material
object that is as well an object of knowledge. Today the human
being has more spare time and access to very many different
tools and technologies for individual use. The boundary between
professional activity and hobby is more and more fading out,
in the working duration as well as in the savoir-faire. The
"do it yourself" mood is, to an extend, comparable to a start
up or a home studio. It requires polyvalent skills for the
use different of and techniques.
In parallel,
the toolsrecycling of all types of materials has become as
much an economical as an ecological necessity. The process
that consists of making "new" out of "old" implies, in particular
in the fine art field, a real love for materials, technical
knowledge, aesthetic inventiveness, in brief a will of (re)-creation.
We're
trying to value a specific point of view that would transform
the "do it yourself" notion into a state of mind. The ability
that pushes to try, explore, improvise and even sometimes
to invent. A mental disposition that doesn't lead one to an
à peu près, but on the contrary to the elaboration of an individual
savoir-faire that enables the construction of a singular and
personal universe.
The artists
we've been chosen are building, deconstructing, transforming
images, objects, structures and are developing a thought in
multiples areas: from housing conditions to human condition,
from music to game going through human body or the environment.
Each of their practise are in their own way, a kind of "do
it yourself", which we can qualify as a personal technology.
Most of
the artists exhibiting in Bricolages live in the French
part of Switzerland and in France. The choice reflects the
will to give the opportunity to a specific Swiss area _ north
east of Switzerland_ most frequently attracted by Germanic
or British creation, to enlighten French-speaking artists'
work.
The "do
it yourself" notion_ and practise _isn't of course peculiar
to the French-speaking community, but it's seems judicious
to remember that beyond the cliché according as French-speaking
artists often create artworks linked to intellect, literal
and formalism, many of them are well and truly first class
handymen.
Jean-Paul
Felley & Olivier Kaeser (translation Celya Larré)
Sponsors
Pro Helvetia
AFAA, Association Française d'action artistique
Ambasade de France en Suisse
Ville de Genève
Stadt Kreuzlingen
Kanton Thurgau Lotteriefonds
Thurgauer Zeitung
Schweizerischer Kunstverein - échanges
Videocompany Zofingen
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Pierre
Bastien
Solo concert of "sounds machines" built with Meccano elements,
in a mis en scène including video projections for the opening
at the Kunstmuseum / Kartause Ittingen and the presentation
of the CD-Rom "9 optical toys" (2000) - an images and sounds
installation alterable - realized with Karel Doing.
Olivier
Blanckart
"Familyx" is the portrait group of a poor generic family.
This original sculpture realized with adhesive and expanded
foam according to a model of photography of Walker Ewans (in
"Let's now praise the great men", 1936) is exhibited in the
Kunstraum in Kreuzlingent.
Cécile
Bonnet & Delphine Reist
Ephemeral
installations in public space composed of several little huts
made of recuperation materials. As the probable disappearance
of these basic shelters, photocopies of photography attesting
of their attendance will be stick up in the concerned places.
The project will be well documented at the Kunstraum in Kreuzlingen
and will be the subject of a daily publication, for a month,
in the Thurgauer Zeitung newspaper.
Malachi
Farrell
Co-ordinated by a presence detector and a computer, the installation
"Fish Flag Mourant" (Black Kettle) (1998), stages, around
a bowl, a macabre ballet of metallic, with moving joints fishes,
denouncing the general environment's pollution. The artwork
is presented at the Kunstmuseum / Kartause in Ittingen.
Hervé
Graumann
From photography of the Ittingen's church, the artist has
realized 3D video films generated by a computer for the Kunstmuseum
/ Kartause in Ittingen as well as a sleep mode screen especially
for his web site www.kunstmuseum.ch,
directly inspired by the inventory of the museum's collection.
Vincent
Julliard
Performance for the opening at the Kunstraum in Kreuzlingen,
then, presentation of the video installation "Théâtre O.R.L."
(1998-99) in which the artist appears as the orchestra man
of his own work.
Inside his mouth takes place a stage of a burlesque show where
strange figures come down from the sky or appear suddenly
from the smoke… .
Kressig
AG
In situ improvisations based on heterogeneous objects in space,
in particular "N 47° 33' 40" - E 8° 53' 38" "in both rooms
of the Projektraum in Shed in Eisenwerk - Frauenfeld and "N
47° 35' 04" - E 8° 52' 00" " in an exterior yard at the Kunstmuseum
/ Kartause in Ittingen.
Le
Gentil Garçon
"The Specialist of the gardening department. First contact.
-Hello, I'd like to have an information on hydraulic pumps
please, - Yes of course, follow me. What is it for? - Euh,
it's a bit special, in fact it's for a kind of sculpture.
- No, you shouldn't think I spent my lifetime in this store!
I'll sometimes go to the museum. I see clearly what kind of
things you going to do." (LGG)
Mathieu
Mercier
In the entrance of the Kreuzlingen's Kunstraum, a built structure
made of modular elements is used as a furniture for welcoming
visitors, for the presentation of documentation and for video
monitors as well. Elsewhere, an electric module is close to
the scale model of a transformed house, a recreated palette
of storage or even a sketch that categorise spare time activities.
Joachim
Mogarra
"Images' world" (1983-85), courtesy Galerie Georges-Philippe
& Nathalie Vallois, Paris. Hanging at the Kunstmuseum / Kartause
of a selection of black and white photography: complete series
of " Untitled
(I bought a car): ten "Images' world and three", "Places of
Faith" (1986)
Hugues
Reip
Device especially realized for a room (old monk cell) of the
Kunstmuseum / Kartause Ittingen, composed of a Bob Dylan's
soundtrack "…knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door…" interpreted
by SPLITt (Hugues Reip and Jacques Julien) - and of a video
projection in which the artist's shadow is smashing down a
door. Publication in the Thurgauer Zeitung newspaper.
Pierrick
Sorin
At the Kunstraum in Kreuzlingen. The video installation "Pierrick
cuts wood" (1997) composed of two monitors and a two-way mirror
disposed in a specific construction. The artist is seen sawing
a wooden board placed between his two legs, filmed by an sidekick
holding the other extremity of the board, and simultaneously,
Pierrick's face is transformed by pain and ecstasy caused
by the wooden board's vibrations.
Cyril
Verrier
The
"Helmets" series (2000-01) in different states of realisation:
drawings, digital images, casts, scale models, colour helmets,
mainly realized in fibreglass and silicone. Selection of recent
video works at the Kunstraum in Kreuzlingen. "The helmets"
series has been realized with the financial support of the
State of Geneva.
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