Faisons de l’inconnu un allié
(Joining Forces with the Unknown)
October 11–23, 2016
Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette
16 rue Debelleyme
75003 Paris
France
Hours: 11am–10pm
Artists: Camille Blatrix, Tyler Coburn, Mimosa Echard, Simon Fujiwara, Yngve Holen, Oliver Laric, Lucy McKenzie, Perks And Mini (P.A.M.), Slow And Steady Wins the Race, Valerie Snobeck, Cally Spooner, Studio Brynjar & Veronika, Rayyane Tabet, Anicka Yi
The production of a work of art requires a particular commitment, as it is the expression of an original idea. It entails the conjunction of complementary forces working towards the completion of a project whose outcome is unknown in advance—even to the artist.
For three years, Lafayette Anticipation – Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette has been working alongside artists, architects, performers, product and fashion designers, making it possible for them to produce new works, experiment, take risks and surround their projects with shared trust and collective intelligence.
Faisons de l’inconnu un allié presents 14 artists stemming from the fields of contemporary art, design and fashion, whose works—sculptures, installations, films, performances—have been commissioned by Lafayette Anticipation, each piece demonstrating the Fondation’s unique commitment to artistic production. These new creations temporarily occupy the former Weber Métaux store. A highly respected place of production, this notorious hardware store has been supplying creators since 1889 and participated in the genesis of several artistic projects. This event concludes the pre-launch programme begun by Lafayette Anticipation in autumn 2013, while also heralding the autumn 2017 opening of its building located 9 rue du Plâtre, renovated by architect Rem Koolhaas and his agency, OMA.
Faisons de l’inconnu un allié reflects the Fondation’s core mission: to support creation by inventing new modes of production. In many ways, artistic production—and the research, experimentation, transformation and materialisation of the thought process it entails—is a journey into the unknown, an openness to uncertainty as a value. This encounter involves constant anticipation, an ability to embrace a near future and to grasp inventively shifting horizons. The Fondation understands its role in terms of anticipating the needs of those—artists, thinkers and other singular voices—in search of new forms of expression. Artists give meaning to the complex era in which we live and, while proposing new ways of thinking, imagine universes from which emerge diverse possible outcomes.
The invited artists are conspicuously linked by an interest in production processes, whether they practice or reference manual work (Mimosa Echard, Simon Fujiwara, Lucy McKenzie, Valerie Snobeck), use industrial or digital technologies (Camille Blatrix, Tyler Coburn, Yngve Holen, Oliver Laric, Rayyane Tabet), or incorporate other forms of know-how into their creative process (Perks And Mini, Slow and Steady Wins the Race, Studio Brynjar & Veronika, Cally Spooner, Anicka Yi).
These approaches on the modalities of production do not however constitute the primary themes of the works; instead they serve to foster thoughts on subjects such as heritage, archaeology, architecture, repair, reproduction, distribution, community, utopia and alternative futures.
Faisons de l’inconnu un allié will also provide the opportunity to revisit the moments leading up to the exhibit (October 2013 through October 2016) which allowed the Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette to define its institutional and curatorial projects. A book will be published in parallel to the exhibit, recounting the Fondation’s first years of existence and activity. This publication, composed of fundamental texts and production specifications, will gather written contributions by Howard Becker and Franck Leibovici, Anja Aranowsky Cronberg, Neil Cummings, Rem Koolhaas and Quinn Latimer, among others.
Faisons de l’inconnu un allié is the first project conceived by the Fondation’s inaugural curatorial collective, consisting of Charles Aubin, Anna Colin, Hicham Khalidi and François Quintin, Managing Director of the Fondation.