Friday, February 04, 2011

Matt Stokes: 'Echoes' Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, France



Image:  Sacred Selections (Banner), 2005 stitched fabric banner, 90 x 210 cms, 35.46 x 82.74 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery, UK.

The first programme of 2011 is devoted to music and in particular the relationship between visual arts and music. This multidisciplinary project, bringing together artists from Switzerland, France and other countries, will extend throughout the Centre Culturel Suisse from 28th January to 10th April 2011, with two exhibitions and a series of special evenings.

Visual artists have taken an interest in music in a variety of ways, and regularly on a reciprocal basis. From the correspondence between Arnold Schönberg and Wassily Kandinsky to Dan Graham's film Rock My Religion (1984) and from Piet Mondrian's interest in jazz and boogie-woogie to the elective affinities between Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Richard Serra, Sol Lewitt, Bruce Nauman or Michael Snow, and including the many album covers designed by artists or dominant figures active in both disciplines such as Laurie Anderson or Christian Marclay, the field of convergence between the two art forms is rich and fertile.

Parallel to the two exhibitions, the CCS has also wanted to involve exhibiting artists like Saâdane Afif or Hugues Reip in the conception of different special evenings, thus sparking off new and original artistic collaborations. This is also the opportunity to highlight a network of artists with a passion for music working in and around Lausanne, in particular Francis Baudevin, the art centre Circuit, the musician Christian Pahud and the photographer Catherine Ceresole.


EXHIBITION

Echoes

28th January - 10th April 2011
Opening Friday 28th January / 5:00 - 9:00 pm / throughout the evening: screening of Long After Tonight by Matt Stokes (2006, 6'40) in the auditorium
Exhibition visits with the curators: Wednesday 2nd February, Thursday 3rd March and Tuesday 5th April at 7:00 pm

With: Abetz & Drescher (DE) / Saâdane Afif (FR) / John Armleder (CH) / Dominique Blais (FR) / Francis Baudevin (CH) / Thomas Bayrle (DE) / Alighiero Boetti (IT) / Valentin Carron (CH) / Philippe Decrauzat (CH) / Jeremy Deller (GB) / Dewar & Gicquel (FR) / Andreas Dobler (CH) / Isa Genzken (DE) / Philippe Gronon (FR) / Vincent Kohler (CH) / Rainier Lericolais (FR) / Constantin Luser (AU) / Jorge Macchi (AR) / Arnaud Maguet (FR) / Christian Marclay (CH/US) / Dawn Mellor (GB) / Dave Muller (US) / Christian Pahud (CH) / Sandrine Pelletier (CH) / Frédéric Post (CH) / Anne-Julie Raccoursier (CH) / Hugues Reip (FR) / Robin Rhode (ZA) / Dario Robleto (US) / Allen Ruppersberg (US) / Michael Sailstorfer (D) / Jim Shaw (US) / Hannes Schmid (CH) / Matt Stokes (GB) / Su-Mei Tse (LU) / Pierre Vadi (CH) / Jean-Luc Verna (FR)

The main exhibition brings together soundless works referring to the music of 37 contemporary artists. What is the music "treated" by visual artists, when sound is absent from the work? Multiple angles of approach are up for discussion. Some of the artists like Alighiero Boetti, Valentin Carron and Constantin Luser have chosen to represent or revisit the "musical instrument" as an object, others, including Saâdane Afif, Philippe Gronon, Dominique Blais and Isa Genzken, have considered the sound equipment used for amplified music - amp, speakers, radio etc. - like an image, sculpture or micro architecture.

Contemporary icons like Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Ian Curtis or Morrissey are the source of inspiration for artists like Dawn Mellor or the duo Abetz & Drescher, while Anne-Julie Raccoursier and Hannes Schmid have concentrated on the imagery conveyed by music such as the body language and the look of musicians and their fans. Finally, identification marks, symbols, logos and specific typefaces can be seen in different formats from Matt Stokes, Jeremy Deller and Philippe Decrauzat.