Der Leone Have Sept Cabeças
June 19–September 21, 2014
Opening garden party: June 19, 7:30pm
CRAC Alsace
18 Rue du Château
F-68130 Altkirch
France
Hours: Tuesday–Friday 10am–6pm,
Saturday–Sunday 2:30–7pm
Closed August 11–17
T +33 (0) 3 89 08 82 59
Curated by Filipa Oliveira & Elfi Turpin
“Pinit, putahtraletungay”
“Nis, Poto?”
“Liba Cabingoat, it”
“la moa, Poto?”
“Ya”
Der: A story about two twins who invented a language of their own was what started this exhibition. Poto and Cabengo spoke a gibberish that no one but themselves understood. In 1978, the French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin attempted to capture the moment before they lost their language, before they were forced to adapt to English.
Leone: Appropriating Gorin’s words about his film, this exhibition is about unstructured discourse—that of the artists—which is surrounded by structured discourse—that of the institution, the curator, the market, the audience…Can language, and in this case can art, be considered a subversive act?
Have: Yes, peut-être (perhaps). But what are they saying? What are they saying? Poto and Cabengo are possibly talking about exile and the weight of the American dream. Because it is as exiles in their own language that they meet, in California, that odd filmmaker who is leaving Europe, speaks French in English, and wants to halt time, precisely where their words have remained cryptic. There’s this situation: almost a relation with migration and a form of impenetrable communication whose social, historical, political, psychological and aesthetic contexts concern the artists in this show. What are they saying? What are they saying?
Sept: The works of the artists erupt as dysfunctional acts in relationship to a classic understanding of what language is supposed to be. They do move within the space of language, text and speech, but deal for instance with notions of interpretation, nonsense and invention. Nevertheless, neither Poto & Cabengo nor language itself are the subjects of this project. They become metaphors or are used simply as common work tools.
Cabeças: With this background, the exhibition should generate discursive and disruptive layers, talking about subjects introduced by the artists and the audience. Or so we hope. The exhibition is a seven-headed lion. One body with many heads.
Der: With Pedro Barateiro, Lothar Baumgarten, Mariana Castillo Deball, Henri Chopin, Natalie Czech, Dora García, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Runo Lagomarsino, Quinn Latimer & Megan Rooney, Matt Mullican, Musa paradisiaca, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Katarina Zdjelar.
Cabeças: And a selection of works from the collection of Marc & Josée Gensollen: Ignasi Aballí, Absalon, Alterazioni Video, Carl Andre, Pierre Bismuth, Alighiero e Boetti, Marcel Broodthaers, Stanley Brouwn, Maurizio Cattelan, Jimmie Durham, Dora García, Mario García Torres, Kendell Geers, Liam Gillick, Douglas Gordon, Carsten Höller, Sofia Hultén, Art Keller – Collection Yoon Ja & Paul Devautour, Gianni Motti, Antoni Muntadas, Hans Op de Beeck, Gabriel Orozco, Philippe Parreno, Kelly Schacht, Tino Sehgal, Yann Sérandour, Marion Tampon-Lajarriette, Ian Wilson.
Have: And also a reading by Quinn Latimer & Megan Rooney, on July 17 at 7pm.
Sept: And finally “A Stuttering Exhibition”: lecture by Vanessa Desclaux with Jesse Ash, Sven Augustijnen, Anna Barham, Ben Cain, Agnès Geoffray, Will Holder, Dominique Petitgand, Linda Quinlan, and Cally Spooner, on September 21 at 4:30pm.
Leone: Ya.
Opening garden party: June 19
Free shuttle from Art Basel. Departure in front of the Swissôtel Le Plaza at 7pm, return to Basel (via Mulhouse) at 10:30pm. Reservation: c.hadey [at] cracalsace.com
Press contact:
Richard Neyroud: r.neyroud [at] cracalsace.com
Exhibition supported by the Swedish Institute (Paris), the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon) & Consulat Général d’Allemagne (Strasbourg).
The CRAC Alsace is supported by Ville d’Altkirch, Conseil Général du Haut-Rhin, Conseil Régional d’Alsace, and DRAC Alsace — Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication.
