Kadist

The Sirens' Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene

03 Apr - 02 May 2010

"The Sirens' Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene", Exhibition view
Photos: A. Mole
THE SIRENS' STAGE/LE STADE DES SIRÈNES/LO STATO DELLE SIRENE
03 April – 2 May 2010

Kadist Art Foundation is pleased to present “The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene”, an exhibition by Etienne Chambaud in the framework of Vincent Normand’s project Permanent Exhibition, Temporary Collections.

“The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene” is developed by Kadist Art Foundation in Paris, the David Roberts Art Foundation in London and Nomas Foundation in Rome. The exhibition, interpreted in a different language almost simultaneously at each foundation, is based on mechanisms of writing and transcription. Translation should be considered both the medium and the shared language of the whole project.

The project takes its title from the mythological sirens’ song, which invents itself in the ear of its addressee. Here The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene, is conceived as a group of « written objects »: absent but described, motionless but translated, unique but repeated, mute but transcribed.

“The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene” is made up of an installation of Figures, a group of named, empty plinths (The Reef), which acts as a space from which are emitted layers of speech and text. Actors will occasionally interact with this space, reading, memorising and rehearsing fragments of script and dialogue. Sometimes The Reef will remain silent.

A group of framed Instruction Pieces hung on the wall will outline a series of gestures and acts. These will change over the course of the exhibition. A writer (The Copyist), present at all times, will transcribe the evolution of the exhibition day after day. The foundation’s collection will be included through a series of photographs of their storages, in which all crates will be named (Stock Figures).
A written contract, drawn up by a lawyer, will outline the conditions for the exchange and the conservation of copies of sculptures exchanged between the three foundations’ collections (The Exchange (The Horse, the Cobblestone, Above the Weather)).

The exhibition is a collection of narrative fragments, playing with accumulations and disappearances, survivals and hauntings. From inscription to oral tradition, polyphony to cacophony, “The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene” explores its own remains and is constructed on its own echoes, misunderstandings, partial interpretations and incomplete memories. The exhibition is conceived as a series of fossils organising their own archeology.
 

Tags: Etienne Chambaud