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Installation Le bois et le feu au bord du Canal du Nivernais

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Aujourd’hui nous avons installé notre grand collage mural sur la maison de l’écluse située entre Merry-sur-Yonne et Mailly-le-Château. Ce projet est réalisé en collaboration avec les Voies Navigables de France (VNF).

Grand merci à Martin Sauvageot et Vincent Milleraux pour leur aide indispensable avec l’installation.

Plus d’information de ce projet

Today we installed our new large mural collage on the lockhouse Ravereau along the Canal du Nivernais between Merry-sur-Yonne and Mailly-le-Chateau in Burgundy. 

This work is part of the project “Les temps du flottage »,  initiated by the association Maillons-la-Vie and carried out in collaboration with the Voies Navigables de France (VNF). In this project several artists were asked to give their artistic vision around the theme of “Flottage”, the ancient way to transport firewood to Paris. 

We’d like to thank Martin Sauvageot and Vincent Milleraux for their indispensable help with the installation. 

More information on this project

20 ans Mouv’Art, ça se fête !

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Where are we now?

20 ans Mouv’Art, ça se fête ! Dans ce cadre nous avons participé à l’exposition au Théâtre d’Auxerre avec l’œuvre Where are we now? En plus nous avons fait une petite exposition sauvage aux toilettes du Théatre dans le cadre de notre projet WCCV. Malheureusement, l’exposition a été annulée cause au confinement.

We celebrated Mouv’art’s 20th birthday with an exhibition at the Theatre of Auxerre. Our work Where are we now? was part of it. In addition we made a small « exposition sauvage » in the toilets of the Theatre as part of our WCCV project.Unfortunately, the exhibition was closed due to the lockdown.

Fabrice Leroux in Metz

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On our way back from a road-trip to the Netherlands we have made a little detour to visit the exhibition « Construction / Disparition » of Fabrice Leroux in la Maison de l’Architecture de Lorraine, a nice little gallery in the city of Metz. We know Fabrice as part of the duo A.I.L.O (together with Anne Eve Berger). This solo work is interesting,  more physical then the works we seen from A.I.L.O (who are all more or less concentrated around the inter-workings of video, light, reflections and sound). This exhibition shows  – albeit quite different – a consistent own worldview. We especially liked his multilayered video « Ashes to Ashes ».  Recommended !

 

 

Kiefer meets Le Corbusier

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The exhibition of work of the German painter Anselm Kiefer in the abbey of Couvent de la Tourette by Le Corbusier is one of the sideshows of the biennale de Lyon. And as the monumental building alone is sufficient reason for the trip, a good opportunity to inform ourselfs about his current works.

Kiefer’s work can best be characterized by associations. He connects elements such as ancient myths, religion and destruction. The sunflowers, the symbol of this idea of the transient nature of everything, are very present in his works.

The sculptures are intriguing, but we still have difficulty with the artificial way in which he tries to integrate real objects into his paintings. In our opinion, it weakens the work. Also the way some ideas are presented we found way too literal.

The interaction between the building and work also remains difficult. The building has its own unique style and Kiefer’s monumental work does not fit well with that. We have read this building of Le Corbusier has had an enormous influence on Kiefer’s work but no, it is not the best environment for presenting it.  An exception are the three sculptures of dresses outside, here the interaction with the environment works wonderfully well.

All in all : Kiefer is still a great artist, that is beyond doubt, but we still keep longing for his dark mega paintings. The current work shown remains a shadow of what once was…

Biennale Lyon in the macLYON: Could Be Worse

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Daniel Dewar & Gregory Giqcuel

Daniel Dewar & Gregory Giqcuel

The words on the t-shirt by Steve Powers – as sold in the swag shop of the macLYON – summarises the presented works in this location too well! For starters the two complete top floors were filled with mountain-country style wood-carved statues (yes nice craftmanship but then again) divided by black funeral house style curtains. Yes two complete floors!! In short: it was a boring and tiresome picture…
The remaining floor was painted graffiti-style with also a tent-like installation where real water was pouring over digital plants. The last work near the entrance showed an animation of logos of ’ powerful companies ’ who were literally liquidated (yes really: a very intelligent wordplay from the artist).
All in all, a sad concatenation of platitudes … but indeed I guess it could be worse!

Trouble Fête, Avignon 2019

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Trouble Fête is an exhibition by Macha Makeïef in the Maison Jean Vilar in Avignon in which you really submerge in a fascinating different world. In this poetic world, you stroll from one room into another, all on the theme of the adventures of Lewis Caroll and Alice.

The whole exhibit is one big installation in which you pass an absorbing beautifully aranged collection of all kind of artefacts, stuffed animals, a large aviary with (again) stuffed birds, soundscapes, decorated skulls, videos, mechanical objects, etc., etc. It is like a theatre but without actors in which the spectators wander through the different scenes in an exploration of dreams and the supernatural.

Absolutely worth a (big) detour!

NB: Trouble Fête is a part of triptych consisting of the play Lewis versus Alice, the book Zone Céleste and the exhibition Trouble Fête.

Entrer dans une maison pour être moins perdue.
La lumière, l’effroi, l’enfance, la rêverie,
embarquer les choses recueillies, faire un récit fantaisiste.
Et les petites filles imaginaires dans cette maison
auront tous les droits, les désirs les plus romanesques.

– Macha Makeïeff

Parcours d’Art, Avignon 2019

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Parcours de l’Art is a yearly art fair that takes place in more than ten different locations in the French village Avignon. We had the impression that the Parcours de l’Art was mainly about digital arts, but no. In fact – in contrast with the two biennales we visited this year (Venice and Lyon) – we found that in Avignon the traditional art forms were the most interesting part of the exhibition. The large size drawings and statues of Carmen Stahlschmidt, the steel structures of Veronique Wirth and the paintings of Muriel Moreau, Mathieu Vignier, Anna Novika and Ranou Kadi were interesting and just good craftmanship.

There were many school classes who visited the exhibitions. A good thing in our opinion, despite the fact that it was sometimes disruptive in the smaller locations.

The quest for the locations of the Parcours also adds to the value of the event, a bit like the Watou events. We found Avignon to be a beautiful and lively town, although somewhat touristy but never to a point that it deranges.

 

 

Biennale Lyon in the Usines Fagor : the battle between building and art

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It has to be said: the new location of the Biennale Lyon is a fascinating environment with lots and lots of character. It is a former factory with immense halls with all of the emblems of the former function still in place.  The floor is covered with lines, numbers and traces who are reminders of the former work processes and the walls are covered in colors and graffiti. And all this character combined with the sheer size of the factory forms a problem. As the organisers have chosen to present the works in a kind of open office style, the works have to compete not only with the other art but also with the building itself. And yes, there are some (steampunkish) works who indeed did brute-force win this competition but a lot of the works are too subtle and fragile to survive.

But despite the suboptimal environment, there is also a lot to like here. Our favourites were the beautiful videos and 3d prints of Eva L’Hoest, the liquid crystal installation of Gustave Metzger, the magma-like water flow of Minouk Liem, the dancing puppets of Fernando Palma Rodriguez, the desert of Stepane Tidet and the steampunk installation of Thomas Feuerstein.
 

All in all: although the building is way too present and the works too entangled with each other so therefore a lack of focus for the visitors, this part of the biennale is absolutely worth the trip. But next time in 2021 we hope it will be the Sucriere again, a much better place for an art fair.

Ivrea, een geest uit het verleden

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Le Corbusier noemde het « de mooiste straat ter wereld » en ja, als je goed kunt waarnemen begrijp je waarom hij dat vond. Het gaat hier over de Via Jervis in de vervallen Italiaanse industriestad Ivrea. Het was hier dat Camillo Olivetti zijn later wereldberoemde typemachinefabriek stichtte. Camillo werd in de dertiger jaren  opgevolgd door zijn zoon Adriano Olivetti die van Olivetti een wereldmerk wist te maken. Iconische ontwerpen als de Lettera schrijfmachines, de grafische ontwerpen maar ook de M24 PC’s (overigens onze eerste echte PC) maakte Olivetti een merk waar de combinatie van vorm en functie een hoofdrol speelde. Naast de aandacht voor de vorm en functie van de producten voelde Adriano zich verantwoordelijk voor het welzijn van zijn medewerkers. Aangezien zij een groot deel van hun bestaan in de kantoren en fabrieken doorbrachten stond hij voor letterlijk een verlichte architectuur, waar het buitenlicht vrij naar binnen kon treden. Ook de verdere vorming was een belangrijk punt, hij stichtte bioscoop en schouwburg, goede scholing alsmede sport- en recreatievoorzieningen.

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Omdat Olivetti de omslag naar digitaal nooit goed heeft kunnen maken, is Ivrea na de jaren 80-90 economisch in vrije val geraakt. De kantoren en fabrieken zijn gesloten en er rest slechts een vermoeden van het verleden. Hoewel de meeste gebouwen er nog steeds staan, straalt het geheel een liefdeloosheid uit die somber stemt. Ook de plaatsing op de werelderfgoedlijst van Unesco heeft het tij (nog) niet kunnen keren. Het tot openluchtmuseum van de omgeving verklaren alleen is niet voldoende. Een goede eerste stap zou zijn het verkeersluw maken van de straten rondom de oude fabrieken. Daarnaast zou een bestemming analoog aan de VanNelle fabriek zowel gebruikers als afnemers uit de meer creatieve hoek kunnen trekken. Door  dit te koppelen aan bijvoorbeeld jaarlijkse culturele / architectuur happenings kan Ivrea weer de levendigheid krijgen die dit bijzondere architectuur complex verdient en kan Ivrea misschien een nieuwe toekomst krijgen.