Anicroches — Variations, choral et fugue — Espace culturel Louis Vuitton — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: November 18, 2011 → February 19, 2012

The Espace culturel Louis Vuitton presents, for its 17th exhibition, a new type of journey. Anicroches, Variations, choral and fugue is a musical voyage, at the heart of which are sight and sound. Unprecedented in format, this exhibition will nurture a new relationship to works of art, enriching the visual approach with a sonorous and musical dimension.

Moving through the exhibition, the visitor will discover works that tackle the domains of sculpture or installation, and at the same time open them to the realm of music. Questioning the close ties between the body of the musician and his instrument, the creations presented here almost all have the ability to be played.

Laurent Saksik, for instance, takes inspiration from the theremin (one of the earliest electronic musical instruments) to create a structure from which everyone is invited to generate a sound without actually making contact with it. Similarly, the work of Christina Kubisch interacts with the body of the visitor, offering him the opportunity to compose his own physical and musical itinerary.

The highly graphic artworks of Thierry Mouillé form musical environments. His drawings and sculptures construct a complex world which draws on many sources, including music, chemistry, economy, painting… Anri Sala’s offering, meanwhile, requires the presence of a saxophonist who, at appointed times, will initiate a duet with the work on display. Instrumentalists are invited to give performances or concerts in order to “activate” these works.

The historic and near totemic work of Charlotte Moorman, the American artist and musician who, in the 1960s, performed many times with Nam June Paik, is a reminder of the very tenuous link between the body of the instrument and that of the musician.

Somewhere between presence and absence of the musician, between absolute control and acceptance of the unpredictable, the works create a rhythm all their own –witness the dozens of cymbals arranged by Stéphane Vigny into a musical landscape, which is subtly brought to life by the discreet triggering of a mechanical vibration.

It is, then, a strange composition that the visitor discovers through this exhibition –an itinerary that alternates music and silence, action and contemplation, and offers moments suspended in time during which it is possible to hear the almost inaudible music of a stylus in the groove at the start of a vinyl disc, as in the work of Su-Mei Tse, or to explore Rémy Jacquier’s labyrinthine model of the inner ear.

For the duration of the exhibition, in the rotunda, the Espace culturel Louis Vuitton will invite visitors to take part in an unprecedented digital experience on the borders of artistic creation and musical composition.

In addition, a guest composer will write a score for all the works on display, which will be performed at an exceptional concert to mark the end of the exhibition.