Saâdane Afif
11 Nov 2006 - 13 Jan 2007
SAÂDANE AFIF
"La Répétition The rehearsal "
On Saturday November 11 at galleria Maze the band That Summer will rehearse tracks from the album 9 Shrunken Pieces.
Stepping into new Saâdane Afif’s show is like watching a movie where the end is the first scene. We have to progress backwards to find out what the story is about and the events that occurred to get to that final point, constantly changing our mind and interpreting backwards.
Walking into the gallery we are surrounded by the interrupted and fragmented sounds of the band, they make us curious and make us want to get in to find out where they come from, or rather considering the context, bring us to image them coming from a video installation that we don’t see yet. We enter the gallery space and on the left a blue window reveals some movements, or rather, with a better look, we can see the legs of three guys, the three musicians while they are playing. Getting closer to the window the view gets wider and we can see the three on a stage and posters on the wall. Is it a concert? Impossible, the room is barely bigger than the stage and there is no audience. Is it a rehearsal room? Yes, it has to be so; in fact the three guys stop, drink a beer, have a cigarette, chat and start playing again.
The light is on; the atmosphere is surreal, big lamps – parallelepiped made of Plexiglas off cuts, projecting on the ceiling colourful flashes, and move according to the music played by the musicians.
Then we are in the gallery’s main room. On the right toward a large text made by mirror letters on a grid. The grid reminds us of a Mondrian skeleton’s painting: WITH A PUZZLE T SLVE WHSE SLUTIN WERE FREE. An Enigmatic sentence where some consonant are missing and make us doubt and feel unsure, what does the artist want to tell us? What is the puzzle to solve?
The view get wider and we can see 9 black texts on the walls, each one with a different title and double signature David Sanson /Saâdane Afif. Are they small poems? Listening carefully, we hear that some of the texts on the wall are the same words the musicians are singing and playing: there we are reading songs. The first word of every song is in bold and by combining them we solve the rebus and we read WITH A PUZZLE TO SOLVE WHOSE SOLUTION WERE FREE. The O’s are missing from that sentence: they are suspended place.
Flash-back: this sentence was commented by the artist referring to creative process in general to the genesis of the abstract works in particular. But the text is also the genesis of the songs; in fact each one starts with one of the word said by the artist. All the songs have been composed by David Sanson following this link, but mostly by taking inspiration and “translating into music” an artwork by Afif. The song’s titles are then the title of nine works by Saâdane Afif, nine artworks that the artist reproduce in scale 1/3 for his solo show in Monaco in 2006 ““9 Pièces Réduites” (9 shrunken pieces), that became then the inspiration for the songs on the wall: Black Spirit, Montana Blues, Hours, Ghost, This is a way you and I measure the world, Le Bar des Héros, Stratégie de l’Inquiétude, Tout, Le Fantôme. This process, in the George Perec manner, is typical of Saâdane Afif’s works and shows, where, through sound installations, sculptures, texts and images, he develops a reflection on the contemporary artist’s practice, questioning who the real author of a work is when an artist creates his works in collaboration and he is not the only author anymore. What‘s happened to an artwork created through the appropriation of objects and situations taken from the pop culture and from the entertainment world?
Afif, a well known artist in the French scene, wants his public to loose temporally the equilibrium for unexpected and flowing situations. The many keys to read his work reflect the dialog between the artist and the viewer and the psychological, social, cultural and historical effects of it. But the songs written on the wall are real piece of art.
The constant interpretation and reinterpretation of his work, made by him and by others, is deeply developed in this show, the artist asks not only That Summer (David Sanson’s band) to play the tracks from the Nine shrunken pieces cd, but to do it as there were no audience in the room, rehearsing and repeating the songs ‘till a perfect result, miming the artist’s creative process. Just like the cinematographic experiences, it takes time to perceive this installation, and moreover this installation develops itself around the viewer as a form of sculpture, which escaped away from the artist’s hand and become autonomous.
Saâdane Afif was born in Vendôme in 1970. Lives and works in Berlin
The artist received in 2006 the International Contemporary Art Award at the Fondation Prince Pierre di Monaco. Selected group shows: Notre Histoire at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris curated by J. Sans e N. Bourriaud; Good Vibrations at the Palazzo delle Papesse in Siena curated by Lorenzo Fusi; Collection 05 at the Institut d'Art Contemporain of Villeurbanne, curated by Nathalie Ergino; Midnight Walkers at the Kunsthaus Baselland in Basel and at the CREDAC in Ivry-sur-Seine, curated by S. Schaschl-Cooper and C. Le Restif; Black/White & Chewing Gum at the Krobath Wimmer Gallery in Wien; the Busa Biennal in Korea curated by Manu Park and Paris Calling at Turner Contemporary in Margate, England.
In 2005 Thank you for the Music at the Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers Gallery in Munich; The Last Christmas, at the Galerie Mehdi Chouakri in Berlino; Expérience de la durée at the Lyon Biennal of contemporary art curated by J. Sans, N. Bourriaud, T.Raspail and T.Prat; the Pantagruel's Syndrom , Turin Triennal ,curated by C. Chrystov-Bakargiev and F. Bonami; Sweet Taboos , Tirana Biennal curated by Hou Hanru; Anti-dote at the Galerie des Galeries Lafayette in Paris; Invisible script: a letter to Morel, curated by François Piron at W139 in Amsterdam; Down at the Rock’nRoll Club , 1st Moscow Biennal and Vorticanti at Galleria Maze di Torino.
In 2007 he will partecipate to Airs de Paris at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Among his solo shows: in 2006 Power Chords , at the Cité de la Musique in Paris and Power Chords/ 9 pièces réduites at the Fondation Prince Pierre in Monaco. In 2005 Lyrics at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris e Hors-catégorie alla galerie Michel Rein in Paris,One Million BPM at Cimaise et portique inAlbi, Francia. Nel 2004 Melancholic Beat at the Museum Folkwang in Essen and Prospectif, Le Hall, galerie de l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon and in 2003 king plants and dirty roads, Art/34/Basel/Art Statements with the galerie Michel Rein and Memory Lost at Villa Arson in Nice.
For further informations contact the gallery.
© Saâdane Afif
La Répétition
installation view
2006
"La Répétition The rehearsal "
On Saturday November 11 at galleria Maze the band That Summer will rehearse tracks from the album 9 Shrunken Pieces.
Stepping into new Saâdane Afif’s show is like watching a movie where the end is the first scene. We have to progress backwards to find out what the story is about and the events that occurred to get to that final point, constantly changing our mind and interpreting backwards.
Walking into the gallery we are surrounded by the interrupted and fragmented sounds of the band, they make us curious and make us want to get in to find out where they come from, or rather considering the context, bring us to image them coming from a video installation that we don’t see yet. We enter the gallery space and on the left a blue window reveals some movements, or rather, with a better look, we can see the legs of three guys, the three musicians while they are playing. Getting closer to the window the view gets wider and we can see the three on a stage and posters on the wall. Is it a concert? Impossible, the room is barely bigger than the stage and there is no audience. Is it a rehearsal room? Yes, it has to be so; in fact the three guys stop, drink a beer, have a cigarette, chat and start playing again.
The light is on; the atmosphere is surreal, big lamps – parallelepiped made of Plexiglas off cuts, projecting on the ceiling colourful flashes, and move according to the music played by the musicians.
Then we are in the gallery’s main room. On the right toward a large text made by mirror letters on a grid. The grid reminds us of a Mondrian skeleton’s painting: WITH A PUZZLE T SLVE WHSE SLUTIN WERE FREE. An Enigmatic sentence where some consonant are missing and make us doubt and feel unsure, what does the artist want to tell us? What is the puzzle to solve?
The view get wider and we can see 9 black texts on the walls, each one with a different title and double signature David Sanson /Saâdane Afif. Are they small poems? Listening carefully, we hear that some of the texts on the wall are the same words the musicians are singing and playing: there we are reading songs. The first word of every song is in bold and by combining them we solve the rebus and we read WITH A PUZZLE TO SOLVE WHOSE SOLUTION WERE FREE. The O’s are missing from that sentence: they are suspended place.
Flash-back: this sentence was commented by the artist referring to creative process in general to the genesis of the abstract works in particular. But the text is also the genesis of the songs; in fact each one starts with one of the word said by the artist. All the songs have been composed by David Sanson following this link, but mostly by taking inspiration and “translating into music” an artwork by Afif. The song’s titles are then the title of nine works by Saâdane Afif, nine artworks that the artist reproduce in scale 1/3 for his solo show in Monaco in 2006 ““9 Pièces Réduites” (9 shrunken pieces), that became then the inspiration for the songs on the wall: Black Spirit, Montana Blues, Hours, Ghost, This is a way you and I measure the world, Le Bar des Héros, Stratégie de l’Inquiétude, Tout, Le Fantôme. This process, in the George Perec manner, is typical of Saâdane Afif’s works and shows, where, through sound installations, sculptures, texts and images, he develops a reflection on the contemporary artist’s practice, questioning who the real author of a work is when an artist creates his works in collaboration and he is not the only author anymore. What‘s happened to an artwork created through the appropriation of objects and situations taken from the pop culture and from the entertainment world?
Afif, a well known artist in the French scene, wants his public to loose temporally the equilibrium for unexpected and flowing situations. The many keys to read his work reflect the dialog between the artist and the viewer and the psychological, social, cultural and historical effects of it. But the songs written on the wall are real piece of art.
The constant interpretation and reinterpretation of his work, made by him and by others, is deeply developed in this show, the artist asks not only That Summer (David Sanson’s band) to play the tracks from the Nine shrunken pieces cd, but to do it as there were no audience in the room, rehearsing and repeating the songs ‘till a perfect result, miming the artist’s creative process. Just like the cinematographic experiences, it takes time to perceive this installation, and moreover this installation develops itself around the viewer as a form of sculpture, which escaped away from the artist’s hand and become autonomous.
Saâdane Afif was born in Vendôme in 1970. Lives and works in Berlin
The artist received in 2006 the International Contemporary Art Award at the Fondation Prince Pierre di Monaco. Selected group shows: Notre Histoire at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris curated by J. Sans e N. Bourriaud; Good Vibrations at the Palazzo delle Papesse in Siena curated by Lorenzo Fusi; Collection 05 at the Institut d'Art Contemporain of Villeurbanne, curated by Nathalie Ergino; Midnight Walkers at the Kunsthaus Baselland in Basel and at the CREDAC in Ivry-sur-Seine, curated by S. Schaschl-Cooper and C. Le Restif; Black/White & Chewing Gum at the Krobath Wimmer Gallery in Wien; the Busa Biennal in Korea curated by Manu Park and Paris Calling at Turner Contemporary in Margate, England.
In 2005 Thank you for the Music at the Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers Gallery in Munich; The Last Christmas, at the Galerie Mehdi Chouakri in Berlino; Expérience de la durée at the Lyon Biennal of contemporary art curated by J. Sans, N. Bourriaud, T.Raspail and T.Prat; the Pantagruel's Syndrom , Turin Triennal ,curated by C. Chrystov-Bakargiev and F. Bonami; Sweet Taboos , Tirana Biennal curated by Hou Hanru; Anti-dote at the Galerie des Galeries Lafayette in Paris; Invisible script: a letter to Morel, curated by François Piron at W139 in Amsterdam; Down at the Rock’nRoll Club , 1st Moscow Biennal and Vorticanti at Galleria Maze di Torino.
In 2007 he will partecipate to Airs de Paris at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Among his solo shows: in 2006 Power Chords , at the Cité de la Musique in Paris and Power Chords/ 9 pièces réduites at the Fondation Prince Pierre in Monaco. In 2005 Lyrics at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris e Hors-catégorie alla galerie Michel Rein in Paris,One Million BPM at Cimaise et portique inAlbi, Francia. Nel 2004 Melancholic Beat at the Museum Folkwang in Essen and Prospectif, Le Hall, galerie de l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon and in 2003 king plants and dirty roads, Art/34/Basel/Art Statements with the galerie Michel Rein and Memory Lost at Villa Arson in Nice.
For further informations contact the gallery.
© Saâdane Afif
La Répétition
installation view
2006