Archiscriptons
28 October–17 December 2011
Opening:
Thursday, 27 October, 6–8 PM
Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie
Bleicherweg 33
CH-8002 Zurich
Switzerland
T +41 43 243 0380
mail [at] annemoma.com
Tues–Fri 12–6 PM / Sat 11 AM–4 PM
Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie is very pleased to present the first solo exhibition in Switzerland of Société Réaliste with a selection of over 15 new works. The Parisian-based art cooperative is known for the poignant presentation of their research in the fields of sociography, symbols and graphics. “Archiscriptons” is an exploration of values and common scripture practice shared by architecture and discourse.
Through sculptures, installations, film, film stills with their accompanying inscriptions and light boxes, the artists question whether the writing of architecture is the same as the architecture of writing.
Using graphics and film editing, Société Réaliste has created a new version of Ayn Rand’s 1949 film “The Fountainhead” to reduce it to its decorum, its ideological architecture. By removing the sound and deleting every human presence, language is silenced but the message is unambiguous. Power exudes in clear form on the screen. In the 48-panel work “Commonscript” (2011) they combine their graphic skills with architectural research. The two-dimensional juxtaposition of mantras from the film’s protagonist in plural form and film-stills on same size panels exposes social commentary. Historical fiction is warped into the present through the font. “Falling Haus” (2011) is the hybridization of Frank Lloyd Wright’s font named “Exhibition” and Josef Albers’ global-abstract font known as “Universal”.
The presentation of societies’ population, values, employment and living environments is captured in the recent works contrasting undocumented migration, structure and philosophy. The icons of economical and political power shifts to Asia and the Middle East appear in light boxes of the latest skyscrapers with a written quandary.
The evolution of currency valuations has led Société Réaliste to create a new exchange-weighted alphabet based on currency symbols. The visualization of economic strength in language is presented as a hierarchy in “New Alphabetical Order” (2010–2011).
About the artists:
Société Réaliste is an art cooperative founded by Ferenc Gróf and Jean-Baptiste Naudy in 2004. They work in Paris (FR) and recently published a catalog on the occasion of their exhibit “Empire, State, Building” at the Jeu de Paume in Paris which will evolve further in an upcoming exhibit at the Ludwig Múzeum in Budapest (HU) and include works created for “Archiscriptons”.