Play / Display — 22,48 m² Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: September 13 → October 27, 2013

The exhibition Play / Display focusses on the idea of playing and its status in the world of art. If playing is indeed, as defined by Roger Caillois, an activity that is free, detached, uncertain, unproductive, bound to rules and fictitious, then art is definitely a kind of play. And yet, as soon as the artworks are exhibited, even though they might have been created in a spirit of playfulness, the possibilities to amuse the viewer are reduced. Presented on a wall or on a pedestal and thereby often turned into sacred objects, they transform and reduce the ludic pact that was originally foreseen with the viewer. The rules of presentation allow for an internalized and private enjoyment only, regardless of the fact that certain artworks were specifically conceived with the intention to establish a recreative relationship with the viewer.

This exhibition provides an occasion to play with the conventions of exhibition and scenography. Between play and display there’s a friction, a “game” that we invite to explore through a specific scenography which will, like a set of board games, turn the works of 10 artists, and the viewers into “players”. The aim is to create a dialogue between the structure of the presentation and the artworks without providing a clear definition of the boundaries between both areas.

Play / Display deals with activities based on well established and structured rules, and with activities that are more spontaneous and imaginary. The works in the exhibition play with the difference between carefreeness on one side and conventions and rules on the other. The show will bring together works that can, at times, be manipulated, works without any other purpose than a playful one, games and children’s toys revisited, representations of games and playable elements, and others.