Les Modules / Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, Février 2011 — Palais de Tokyo — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: February 4 → 27, 2011

Module 1 : John Cornu, Sitting on the fence

John Cornu essentially works in situ adapting his practice and formal language to the spaces that he inhabits: an architectural graft on Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, an exhibition of burnt stretchers in a gallery, or else “wild” cleaning of a portion of wall in a public space. His works often evoke the theme of travesty, tracing “the contours of a manipulated reality where what we are given to observe never exactly corresponds to what we think we are observing” (Christian Alandete). Often considered as rhizomic, these works seem to slide into a gap between minimalism and the organic.

Assis sur l’obstacle, a new exhibition by John Cornu, has its origins as much in the anti-tank barriers of the Second World War as in a traditional wooden puzzle, the “carpenter’s cross”, or even an inverted crucifix. “Assis sur l’obstacle” is the literal translation of the English expression “Sitting on the fence”, meaning indecision — the indecision of visitors as they contemplate whether to clamber over these sculptures in darkened lumber, to go around them or to turn back — a metaphor of contemporary art which often questions the observer.

Module 2 : Sébastien Vonier, Névés

An artist-geometer, Sébastien Vonier is as interested in household furniture as he is in the most desolate of landscapes. From the Breton islands to the Pyrenean mountains, his works seem to draw maps of imaginary lands, halfway between dreams and ultra-reality. The forms he produces recall strange objects with very diverse origins, which we attempt to link up with our formal references. Regularly working in public spaces, he moves elements around in situ, allowing a new interpretation and providing new uses for our immediate environment.

Here, Sébastien Vonier presents a new version of his Névés (previously presented in connection with the Printemps de Septembre at Lieu-Commun in 2009). A névé is originally an accumulation of hardened snow in high mountainous areas. The artist gives a raw, abstract interpretation in the form of a vast volume deconstructed into a metal grid and cast concrete. The piece seems to have had a violent fall, splaying its fragments all over the ground. In this movement of materials, a world away from the eternal snowscape, a slide can be seen where what is at stake is less a representation, rather an evocation of the physical impact of natural chaos.

Sébastien Vonier, Névés, 2009 Metal and concrete — Dimensions variable Vue de l’exposition « slide’sss » 2009, Lieu-Commun, Le Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse — Courtesy de l’artiste & galerie ACDC, Bordeaux

Module vidéo : Hakima el djoudi, When The City Sleeps

Hakima El Djourdi has followed the path of a multi-form artistic search, building connections between cinema, video and installation. Thus her ‘small armies’ made of banknotes dialogue with a video that hypnotizes us in a trance-inducing dance, and a song by Natacha Atlas combats the silence of neon signs taken out of their cinematographic context. After taking part in the Festival Spirit created by Jean-Marc Chapoulie for the Video Module in 2009, the artist has been invited today for a personal presentation of a collection of new videos.

The Quand la ville dort [When The City Sleeps] program offers a month of suspense: four video-signs, changing weekly, from film noir in Hollywood’s golden age to illustrated serials reminiscent of Fantômas. Here, the newly rehabilitated neon signs used by Hakima El Djoudi evoke attraction (Golden Rooster), loss of self (Good Cocktail), confrontation (Up side) and to conclude, the epilogue (Britannia), which may or may not in fact be a happy ending.