THE T-I-T-L-E-E-R/ARTISSIMA INTERNATIONAL FAIR FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
A project by SALON POPULAIRE (Ellen Blumenstein) and Daniel Tyradellis
Idea
THE T-I-T-L-E-E-R takes the five art films produced by the Chisenhale Gallery as a starting point for a laboratory situation on joint thought, which will be held at the cinema space of Artissima during three sessions on November 6, 2011.
For this endeavor, SALON POPULAIRE has invited the German/Greek philosopher Daniel Tyradellis to collaborate on the conception, research, and realization of THE T-I-T-L-E-E-R.
Based on a ‘close viewing’ of the films, we will extract particular scenes, moments or even images which are essential both to our understanding of the respective project and which reach beyond the specific filmic context towards broader political/social/cultural questions.
The resulting subject matters become catalysts for research on material from a variety of additional sources, such as prose, poetry, philosophy, music, film, postcards, found archival images, footage from the media, etc., which we will confront with the filmic excerpts. Our idea is to create a configuration of images, texts, and sounds (similar to a virtual, temporary exhibition) that initiates a joint discussion on common concerns. The aim is not to predetermine how we talk about or comprehend the films’ concerns beforehand by assigning a particular topic to the discussion, but rather to establish a field of possible meanings and ways of pursuing and understanding the films and of connecting respective interpretations and questions posed in the films with personal interests.
Background
The title of Salon Populaire’s project proposal is borrowed from a lecture that the French philosopher Jacques Derrida gave in 1979. The point of his lecture was investigating to what extent a title or a given context predetermines our access to knowledge and meaning. A title promises to give interpretation a direction, to localize the discourse’s framework, and to guide understanding. THE T-I-T-L-E-E-R follows Derrida in the thesis that the suspension of a title, or rather giving a project a ‘title (to be specified)’, opens up a diversity of possible discussions around the five given films while also including the question of how thought is established and how knowledge can be produced – as a reference towards a subject matter / an object. We would like to address both issues with/within our discussions.
Form
For each of the planned sessions, we invite one respondent to react on the material (which we will provide beforehand), help set up spatial and visual constellations during the conversations, and discuss these together with the audience/participants.
As it is our wish to connect the programs of all three days of the fair and confront the respective approaches of each of the curatorial collectives, we would like to invite a representative from Triple Canopy and from Béton Salon as guests for one session each. For the third session, our favorite guest would be the director of Artissima, Francesco Manacorda, who set up the experimental framework for the curatorial projects, in order to jointly test the potential of the proposed format.
While Ellen Blumenstein from Salon Populaire will take the traditional role of the host and moderater of the discussion, Daniel Tyradellis acts as a ‘joker’ – the one who interrupts, re-directs, changes the cards, poses new questions, transverses/intersects the session from the double perspective of an insider-outsider. He intervenes when the discussion gets stuck or, on the contrary, he insists on remaining with a particular question, which contains a crucial problem.
Whether there will be a defined approach for each session (for example, if we follow one specific film or if we start from a set of questions intersecting all or a selection of films), or whether we follow the project title so far as to leave the context open depends on the material we will gather, and therefore will crystallize within the upcoming weeks.
Structure
12 p.m.-2 p.m. (12.15-1.45): first session with Triple Canopy
2 p.m.-4 p.m. (2.15-3.45): second session with Béton Salon
4 p.m.-6 p.m. (4.15-5.45): third session with Francesco Manacorda