‘A-B’, Catherine Bastide invites Théophile Calot
3–18 July 2021, Marseille
For the inauguration of "La Traverse", Catherine Bastide invites Théophile Calot to a curatorial residence.
Opening on the 3rd of July 2021 from 6 to 9 pm.
Saturday July 3 at 3:30 p.m., digestive walk open to all punctuated by performances in the alleys of Malmousque.
On the 3rd and the 10th of July, a lunch will be offered by Fabien Vallos.
Please book a date and go home with a ceramic plate:
"A—B
a table, écoute, dehors, l’île, la terrasse, le haut, l'assiette, dedans, la fausse piscine, la mer, apéro, ventre, un café, par ici, allons y"
With : Felicia Atkinson, Marc Buchy, Elvire Bonduelle, Eve Chabanon, Musique Chienne, Jérémie Cosimi, Mimosa Echard, Ronan Lecreurer, Nicolas Poillot, Pedro Reyes, Fabien Vallos, Adrien Vescovi
In situ installations : Régis Jocteur Monrozier, Atelier Laissez Passer, Ludivine Venet.
What if conceptual art, reputed to be proto-col and disembodied, turned out to be the playground of obsessive romantics in hiding, of epicureans with insolent self-deprecation? Towards the end of the years 2000, a new generation of artists had re-interested themselves in the art of their conceptual elders by unearthing more carnal and emotional lines of tension, far from the binary dogmatisms between rationality and corporality which persisted against them. It is thus revealing to find among the guests of this exhibition, the artist-philosopher Fabien Vallos, one of the persons in charge of a fundamental work for this generation which renewed the interest for the conceptual procedures: published in 2008, "Conceptual art an entology" (1) sought to rethink the literature through the textual works of the historical artists of this movement. Rather than cold precepts, this book "bastard child of literature" showed the casualness of the registers they used (autobiography, diary, dialogue, telegram), reminding the performative aim of language. Performance will be much in question in the exhibition proposed by Théophile Calot, who himself has a back-ground that inherits this non-binary perception of conceptual art. If he became interested in the principle of the work-book with the creation of a publishing platform in 2011, it was to devour the potential of the page, graphics and human relations with artists, expanding the modalities of exhibition to the banquet, like this exhibition-performance. And what better ally for this game of displacement than Fabien Vallos, whose philosophical passions range from Mannerist painters to the theory of the feast, and who will officiate as the banquet chef? All the elements of this lively exhibition have been conceived by artists, from the chairs (beleaguered globes by Félicia Atkinson, herself a musician and editor) to the luminous sculpture in glass beads by Mimosa Echard (whose work appeals to all the senses and does not distinguish between organic and synthetic), through the xylophone timbres of Musique Chienne (who sometimes plays in dialogue with animals), the flying deer performance of Ronan Lecreurer (bringing together science and modernist abstraction) or the painting banner of Adrien Vescovi (made in collaboration with the natural elements), swaying to the flavor of the mistral on the facade of the house. Another nod to the conceptual heritage that resurfaces with the phrase of Elvire Bonduelle inscribed on the railings of the balconies of a house on the route of the exhibition. It is the famous sentence pronounced by Frank Stella during an exchange in 1966 with Donald Judd: "You see what you see", to evoke the condition of object of any painting. What has since become more pronounced with this generation of artists is the possibility that art can not only assume itself as an object but also extend its functionality beyond the mere exhibition. This is also the case with Ève Chabanon whose practice is as much collaborative (the creation of citizen assemblies) as it is material, around functional craft objects that shake up the art economy. Pursuing this twist, summoning the spirit of the Romanian conceptual artist André Cadere, it is Marc Buchy who will introduce a bodily dimension with stilts taking us to the creeks of Malmousque. There, in this area frequented by legionnaires, we will have to swim to reach the island opposite where a final performance is held. Because it is of a displacement as much artistic and intimate of which it is question in this exhibition, the one that draws the curator Théophile Calot: there is no separation between the rationality and the practice of the body, between the art exposed to the walls of a gallery and the glasses in which one drinks, between the interior of a house and the natural elements that surround it. We must always remember that art is a vital movement, with bodies enjoying water and food, in a ritual of celebration of the non-separation of objects and subjects, of spirit and desire.
- Pedro Morais
Opens from 11 am to 6 pm and by appointment
