Daniel Buren
Echoes, works in situ
8 May–9 September 2011
Centre Pompidou-Metz
1, parvis des Droits-de-l’Homme
CS 90490
57020 Metz Cedex 1
France
T +33(0) 3 87 15 39 39
contact [at] centrepompidou-metz.fr
www.centrepompidou-metz.fr
Opening Hours:
Mon, Wen 11am–6pm ; Thur, Fri 11am–8pm ; Sat 10am–8pm, Sun 10am–6pm
Daniel Buren’s works reveal, question and transform the properties of the spaces they occupy. Echoes, Works in situ takes over the most impressive gallery of the Centre Pompidou-Metz, designed by the architects Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines. This 80-meter long space has been divided in half by a new wall, which is shown as an integral part of the proposed composition. In one part of the gallery, Les cabanes éclatées imbriquées, work in situ, form “sites within sites, places within places” (1) The viewer is invited to explore this transient architecture whose multiple viewpoints fragment the space. The other part, La Ville empruntée, multipliée et fragmentée: work in situ, provides a counterpoint to the view across the city. Daniel Buren uses the picture window and the landscape beyond it and, through a set of mirrors, fragments and multiplies them to infinity.
Born in Boulogne-Billancourt in 1938, Daniel Buren is an important figure of the French contemporary art scene. He is known for his use of vertical, 8.7cm-wide, alternating white and coloured stripes, which he calls “visual tools.” For some, these stripes are also the artist’s “trademark” and signature. Buren was one of the first artists to work almost exclusively in situ—and the first to use this term in reference to visual arts—making his work relate specifically to the site where it is made and shown. Buren has produced almost two thousand installations worldwide to date. In 1986 he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale. That same year he completed a seminal work in the courtyard of the Palais Royal in Paris, Les Deux Plateaux (Two Planes), popularly known as Buren’s Columns. In 2007, Daniel Buren was awarded Japan’s Praemium Imperiale.
The Centre Pompidou-Metz has developed a privileged relationship with Daniel Buren notably through the Constellation pre-inauguration event in 2009 which produced two projects: 5,610 flammes colorées pour un arc-en-ciel (5,610 coloured flames make a rainbow), a site-specific work in Metz, and, in September, Couleurs superposes (Layered colours), a performance which he directed at the Metz Métropole Opera House and Theatre.
Daniel Buren’s new project at the Centre Pompidou-Metz is a joint initiative of the Centre Pompidou-Metz and the Mudam Luxembourg, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean. In that context the Mudam and the Centre Pompidou-Metz are jointly publishing a book with some sixty photographs of the two Works in situ. This succession of images shows how light and perspective are the common denominators of both these projects.
Curators: Laurent Le Bon, Director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz and Hélène Guenin, Head of Department – Curator of Exhibitions and Performance Arts;
Anaïs Lellouche, Assistant curator
Production: Charline Becker, Production officer at the Centre Pompidou-Metz and Art Projects
Media contacts:
Centre Pompidou-Metz
Louise Moreau
+33 (0)3 87 15 39 63
louise.moreau@centrepompidou-metz.fr
Claudine Colin Communication
Constance Gounod / Valentine Dolla
+33 (0)1 42 72 60 01
centrepompidoumetz@claudinecolin.com
(1) Daniel Buren Entrevue, Conversations avec Anne Baldassari (1987) in Paris, Flammarion, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 1987, p.24 reprinted in Les Écrits, T.3, Bordeaux, Musée d’art contemporain, 1991, p.238
*Image above:
© Adagp, Paris 2011, Daniel Buren / Photo Rémi Villagi.
