D'art Ambition D'art Alighiero Boetti, Daniel Buren, Jordi Colomer, Tony
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Ambition d’art AmbitionAlighiero Boetti, Daniel Buren, Jordi Colomer, Tony Cragg, Luciano Fabro, Yona Friedman, Anish Kapoor, On Kawara, Martha Rosler, Jeff Wall, Lawrence Weiner d’art16 May – 21 September 2008 The Institut d’art contemporain aspect (an anniversary) and the is celebrating its 30th anniversary setting – the inauguration of an in 2008 and on this occasion exhibition in the artistico-political has invited its founder, context of the 2000s – it is aimed Jean Louis Maubant, to design at shedding light on what the an exhibition, accompanied by an ‘ambition’ of art and its ‘world’ important publication. might be. The exhibition Ambition d’art, held in partnership with the The retrospective dimension Rhône-Alpes Regional Council of the event is presented above and the town of Villeurbanne, is a all in the two volumes (Alphabet strong and exceptional event for and Archive) of the publication to the Institute: beyond the anecdotal which it has given rise. Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne www.i-art-c.org Any feedback in the exhibition is Yona Friedman, Jordi Colomer) or less to commemorate past history because they have hardly ever been than to give present and future shown (Martha Rosler, Alighiero history more density. In fact, many Boetti, Jeff Wall). Other works have of the works shown here have already been shown at the Institut never been seen before. and now gain fresh visibility as a result of their positioning in space and their artistic company (Luciano Fabro, Daniel Buren, Martha Rosler, Ambition d’art Tony Cragg, On Kawara). For the exhibition Ambition d’art, At the two ends of the generation Jean Louis Maubant has chosen chain, invitations have been eleven artists for the eleven rooms extended to both Jordi Colomer of the Institut d’art contemporain. (who had a solo show at the Most of them have made a strong Institute in 2004) and to Yona mark on the history of the Institut Friedman (an exception that proves and its programme of exhibitions: the rule as this is the first time Daniel Buren was first shown in that he has shown work at 1979, Tony Cragg in 1981, Anish the Institute). This is an affirmation Kapoor in 1983, Alighiero Boetti of the primacy of the artist’s vision in 1986, On Kawara in 1996… (of certain artists, whatever without forgetting Lawrence their age) as capacity to change the Weiner who, invited several times world – starting by representing by the Nouveau Musée, has made it – and the permanence of Utopia an original contribution to the as momentum. openly contemporary trend in the Villeurbanne area (exhibitions, a The exhibition shows Jean Louis public commission, a catalogue Maubant’s artistic predilections raisonné and artist’s book, an and convictions throughout: lively ‘artist’s lesson’ for the public, etc.). interest in the Italian art scene in the 1970s, in the new sculpture Ambition d’art makes it possible of the 1980s, for Conceptual and to show certain works for the first ‘contextual’ art, for the relation time in France, whether created between art and architecture for the occasion (Lawrence Weiner, and more generally for politically committed art that accepts In 1978, Jean Louis Maubant founded its social and political dimension. ‘Le Nouveau Musée’, a different kind of The spatial layout of the exhibition setting. A museum without walls and with no collection, semi-private and totally also reflects the choice of dedicated to the plastic creation that was hinging the rooms so each is a happening. It was in a way an American- monographic space, allowing both style museum (like Marcia Tucker’s New Museum in New York). a synchronic journey through the In 1982, this art centre was installed in creative exuberance of the recent a former Jules Ferry type school made decades and a salutary focusing available by the mayor of Villeurbanne at the time. The importance of the private on the originality of each artist partners who were involved in the and his or her universe. adventure from the start, with the aim of civil society representation, led to the awarding of an Oscar du Mécénat (Oscar The title Ambition d’art indicates for Patronage) in 1982. the determination to avoid In 1984, it gained the name Centre International d’Art Contemporain euphemisms or jargon, false during the cultural effervescence of the modesty or showmanship. decentralisation of the plastic arts by the Although the exhibition Ambition Ministry of Culture, when Jack Lang was minister. This was also when collections d’art is not prospective with regard of contemporary art took shape in the to the artistic choices made, regions, in particular with the setting-up it intends to be so with regard of Fonds Régionaux d’Art Contemporain (Regional Collections of Contemporary Art, to the fate of the art on show. It FRAC). addresses once again the question Sensitivity to educational questions of the role of art in society, developed little by little, whether in the showing of new forms of art to publics who stressing its critical issues one more were novices in the field or with regard time. to the need for research in aesthetics, correlated with that for archiving. Jean Louis Maubant defended the idea that ‘you study art, you work on it’, and this led logically to the place acquiring the name of ‘Institute’. In 1992, a partnership agreement was concluded between FRAC Rhône-Alpes and the Nouveau Musée/Institut and the two bodies merged fully in 1997. The Institut d’art contemporain has since managed and enriched the Rhône-Alpes Collection, that now stands at 1,557 works by 711 artists, while conserving its initial function of accompanying creation. More than 140 exhibitions have been held in 30 years. Lawrence Weiner [room 1] making of the piece are equivalent and, in addition, the building of the work depends Born in 1942 in New York, Lawrence intrinsically on its reception, and hence its Weiner lives and works in New York and context. Amsterdam. From the 1970s onwards, Lawrence Weiner’s work has consisted essentially of the making Lawrence Weiner is one of the major of mural installations, or more precisely figures of Conceptual art, a movement words painted on walls and describing that started in the United States and potential sculptures. His Statements were developed there and in England from 1966 in a neutral tone that became a noticeable to 1972. Conceptual art uses language as a trait in the style of his work: characteristic plastic form and autoreference for critical typography (sans-serif capitals) laid out questioning of the ends and means of the in blocks with arbitrary line-breaks and a works themselves. As the artist’s intention systematic exploration of colour, translation is the main material in a conceptual piece, and parentheses (brackets, dashes and slashes). the latter can remain at the project stage He subsequently called his pieces Works to and exist only through its description. affirm their status as sculptures. Lawrence Weiner showed his work for the first time in 1964 at the Seth Siegelaub Gallery A Handful of Chalk (Une poignée de craie) in New York, which became the following (1988), made by Lawrence Weiner for the year one of the hotspots of Conceptual exhibition Ambition d’art on the glassed Art, with the artists Robert Barry, Douglas entry to the Institut d’art contemporain, Huebler, Joseph Kosuth. is characteristic of the artist’s plastic vocabulary. It welcomes the visitor with Weiner’s work took a decisive turn in 1968: the statement ‘A HANDFUL OF CHALK at an exhibition at the Siegelaub Gallery / (WITH) SOME SAWDUST / (&) CHIPS in that year he decided to show only OF ROCK / ON A SHINGLE’ The syntactic Statements, a book containing a series of construction that segments and juxtaposes sculpture projects to be made mentally. All noun groups (noun and complement) is an Lawrence Weiner’s subsequent statements image of the process and gestures evoked: are based on the artist’s ‘Declaration of fractioning, reassembly and distribution. Intent’, published in 1969: ‘The artist may While objectively indicating the materials construct the piece. / The piece may be and their possible use, Weiner’s work has fabricated. / The piece need not be built. an allegorical dimension and this evocation / Each being equal and consistent with of the cycle of transformation of matter the intent of the artist the decision as to into aggregates of elements forms a very condition rests with the receiver upon poetic reflection of the cycle of time. the occasion of receivership’. Weiner thus declares that the three possibilities of the Daniel Buren [room 2] plastic sign – stripes – that he called a ‘visual tool’. This always consists of a chromatic Born in 1938 in Boulogne-Billancourt, alternance of white and coloured stripes, Daniel Buren lives and works in situ. whose width had been set at 8.7 cm in 1967. The artist works without a studio as he Daniel Buren’s career has been closely linked makes his works in situ, that is to say in the with the history of the Nouveau Musée, actual places for which they are destined. which invited him as early as 1979. It was The role of Buren’s visual tool is to reveal, also at the invitation of the Nouveau Musée by its positioning, the characteristics of that Buren exhibited in public spaces in Lyon the places that he occupies. As a result, and Villeurbanne in 1980 with the project the in situ work also tends to change the Ponctuations, statue / sculpture addressing place in which it is sited. all the statuary in the two towns. Peinture/Sculpture (1971) is one of the first In the early 1960s, Daniel Buren painted large in situ works designed by Buren for on coloured bed sheets or hessian after the Solomon R.