The suburbs are on fire - David Michael Clarke & Neal Beggs
[La Sarthe, 2007]
This text was published for the first of three exhibitions collectively entitled, 'Architecture and Humanity'. The project was curated by Neal Beggs and David Michael Clarke for the FRAC des Pays de la Loire.
We begin our journey through the Sarthe in a simple fashion presenting art, within architecture, for us 'the public' to look at. A straight forward approach and one we intend to repeated over the coming year, with different works, in different building, for differing publics, but always with the same intention; to create challenging exhibitions that explore the different kinds of relation that we, as humans can have with the buildings that we, as a race, have created.
At the heart of this first exhibition (at Bouloire) is a simple relation, the artist and us. You could see this quite clearly if he wasn't hiding in his studio. Instead we are invited to search. Search for the artist. Search for the meaning. The responsibilty for artistic research is a shared responsibility between the artist and the viewer. That's how meaning is constructed.
Artists' studios often resemble organic cities - a confusion of objects grouped in a disorganised space. Things are rarely clear, simple, or straightforward. In "La Cours des Choses", Fischli & Weiss try to simplify the chaos into a linear logic. One event leads to another. We follow this sequence, hoping that in the end a certain sense will be revealed. But we never get there. The sense is in the voyage, not in the destination.
Foreground - TTrioreau - GMTT-CK Edge on a Ledge
Background - Fischli & Weiss - La Cours des Choses
Moving beyond the studio, we can see the strange relation that artists can have with institutions. TTrioreau' work, "Edge on a Ledge" is a scale model of the FRAC Pays de la loire. The model is tilted on a drum stand, and seems like it might be some kind of strange satellite dish capturing signals from an alien world. But the FRAC captures nothing. It's walls are mirrored and it just sends back to us that which we already know. The FRAC reflects it's context. Artistic. Geographic. Social. Political. So what is the role of the artist? or the art institution? Just to reflect the world as it is? Maybe.
Left - Roderick Buchanan - Endless Column
Centre - TTrioreau - GMTT-CK Edge on a Ledge
Right - Gilles Barbier - The artist hiding in his studio
Bill Owens's work seems to suggest this. He photographs his world. The optimism of his suburb. He's not changing anything. He's not making things up. Tell it as it is, Bill. But some how nostalgia is a dangerous place. A whirlpool of memories that has a gravitational pull on us all. Beware. Truth? Honesty? Maybe.
Foreground - TTrioreau - GMTT-CK Edge on a Ledge
Background - Bill Owens
In Roderick Buchanan's work, "Endless Column", we see clearly the risks involved with over-simplification. The dangers of linear reading. Reducing the complete coverage of a Rugby world cup, down to only a few minutes, the camera pans endlessly from one side to another, revealing an endless column of men. A column that seems to speak of disenchantment as much as it does pride. National pride that is. It's a line up. They could be criminals. They are not. They are sportsmen. But here we see the colours of politics, not of sport.
Foreground - TTrioreau - GMTT-CK Edge on a Ledge
Background - Roderick Buchanan - Endless Column
Turn your head around now. Look again at the work of Fischli and Weiss. Things aren't always as they seem. The suburbs are on fire.