Sala Rekalde

Réinventer le monde

22 Feb - 05 May 2013

Claude Lévêque
Sans titre (1993)
Collection Frac Aquitaine, Bordeaux
RÉINVENTER LE MONDE
Curator: Alexandra Baurès.
22 February - 5 May 2013

Sala Rekalde, in collaboration with FRAC Aquitaine, presents the group exhibition Réinventer le monde. The thirteen artists on show visit the reality, think about it and transform it so that the viewer can reflect upon his or her own behavior. In a context of crisis that reclaims our attention and individual action, art can be the media able to imagine answers from a distance, criticism and humor.

With the support of the GECT Euroregion Aquitaine-Euskadi.

THE EXHIBITION

Réinventer le monde opens with a work by Claude Lévêque (Nevers, France, 1953) which reproduces a labyrinthine depiction of the human brain in red neon tubes. With this piece the artist appeals to human intelligence, a call that resounds throughout the entire exhibition.

The first heading, Make, don't make or unmake, rescues and revises The principle of equivalence invented by Robert Filliou (Sauve, France, 1926 - Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, France, 1987) in 1968. This is a proposition applied to objects, actions and ideas, according to which the three states –well made, badly made, not made– are equivalent constituent parts of every thing. By placing the well made (the model) and the badly made (the error) on the same level, Filliou questioned the superiority of knowing how to make within the value scale associated with artistic work and work in general. At the same time, he conferred on the not made (the concept) the same degree of reality awarded the made. In this exhibition, his video Telepathic Music no7. The Principle of Equivalence Carried to a Series of Five, from 1977, is shown.
On show also are two photographs from the Série Bíiblique by Joachim Mogarra (Tarragona, Spain, 1954), an artist who shares with Filliou the concept of the badly made, to which must be added the video and sculptural work Stunt Lab by Florian Pugnaire (Maisons-Laffitte, France, 1980), which goes beyond the badly made, working with waste.

The second heading, Country days, deals with the relation between human beings and nature in today’s overwhelmingly urban society. In first place, the series of drawings Melanophila II ou l’ennemi déclaré by Dove Allouche (Sarcelles, France, 1972) introduces the notion of time in the perception of natural space, contrasting the hours of humankind with natural rhythm. He also alludes to fire, and to its destructive force, an idea that is also present in the sound project Overlap by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot (Nice, France, 1961) and in the photograph Les Mandarines by Bernard Faucon (Apt, France, 1950). Faucon, meanwhile, in his series Summer holidays, reconstructs the time of maximum immersion in nature constituted by childhood. And Pauline Bastard (Rouen, France, 1982) guts the images that feed the yearning for nature felt by the inhabitants of cities in her series of collages Beautiful Landscapes.

The third heading, Resistance, puts the spotlight on people’s powerlessness to grasp the reins of their existence in a context marked by crisis and an increase in social control. The neon STRIKE, K. Font, V.1, by Claire Fontaine (an artists’ collective founded in Paris in 2004) stays off whilst there is movement in the space and lights up when everyone remains still for more than two minutes or if the room is empty. It is a reflection "upon the power of bodies in space, about the importance of stopping together ", which the artists terms "the human strike ". This work dialogues with the video Faire le mur by Bertille Bak (Arras, France, 1983), which sets in play an entire community of inhabitants in a mining village in the north of France, Barlin, on the point of being evicted by the administration. The tale constructed by the artist with the active participation of the locals proposes a burlesque transformation of reality; poetic revenge, one might say.

The fourth heading, Objects for thinking, offers a selection of sculpture-prototypes that fire questions at the spectator. Ranging from the intimate to the collective they denounce our ways of acting in the world. Le véhicule (The vehicle), 1995-1996, by Xavier Veilhan (Lyon, France, 1963), targets automotive technology in allusion to the powerful market it addresses. The instrument Sans titre provisoire (Borne à révolte), that is, No working title (Revolt Landmark) by Philippe Ramette (Auxerre, France, 1961) inspects our civic conduct. Tatiana Trouvé (Cosenza, Italy, 1968) rescues, organises and archives the occult and the forgotten in Cellule de sable (Sand cell) and Les Fantômes (Ghosts ), two pieces that belong to B.A.I, Bureau d’Activités Implicites (Office of implicit activities).

The work that sends visitors on their way, Bouquet perpétuel (Perpetual bouquet) by Joachim Mogarra, is comprised of three fresh roses in a vase. It is a simple gesture, which the artist delegated to the keepers of the gallery, expressing the idea that art is a minimal every day thing, and to be shared with others.

The publication includes texts by curator Alexandra Baurès that accompany the exhibition, as well as a text by Jaime Cuenca concerning the work under construction of Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum conceived specifically for the exhibition space Hangar G2, Bordeaux from 4 October until 28 December.
 

Tags: Dove Allouche, Bertille Bak, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Robert Filliou, Claire Fontaine, Claude Lévêque, Joachim Mogarra, Philippe Ramette, Tatiana Trouvé, Xavier Veilhan