Extreme non-violence: A portrait beyond the photographer
Bruno Serralongue according to Joanna Warsza
With guest contributions by Muhammad Ali, Flaka Haliti and Jay Jordan.
“When we met in Paris, I asked Serralongue to describe not only his relationship to non-violent struggles, but also his potential definition of nonviolent photography: how to produce images which are conscious of asymmetries, conflicts and yet rather than reproducing them, try out another visual regime. In fact, what Judith Butler’s nonviolent research brings to light is that for centuries, the whole paradigm of contemporary, mostly-Western, life (and perhaps art) has been violence-based from the colonial, to the patriarchal and modernist horizons.” Read more on TextWork.
Beyond Taxonomy
Chloé Quenum according to Sarah Robayo Sheridan
“This ability to flip between categories and eschew fixity is in fact an ethical imperative in this artist’s practice who consistently champions the migration of forms across different contexts. (…) For Quenum, the outplaying of binary thinking is performed through inhabiting existing symbols differently, through the visual transcoding of moving familiar and banal motifs into new and heightened scrutiny and the troubling of dichotomies such as lasting/ephemeral, inside/outside, here/there, self/other.” Read more on TextWork.
Upcoming TextWorks:
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster according to Daisy Hildyard
Benoît Maire according to Caterina Riva—in partnership with Académie de France à Rome – Villa Médicis
Jean-Claude Ruggirello according to Mihnea Mircan
Announcing the laureates of the first TextWork Writing Grant
Anysia Troin-Guis and Thomas Conchou are the two laureates of the all-new writing grant launched within the framework of the TextWork programme, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the platform created by the Fondation Pernod Ricard with the support of the French Ministry of Culture.
The TextWork Writing Grant supports emerging writers of the French art scene and accompanies them in developing and publishing a long-form critical essay. The addition of this new facet of TextWork provides an opportunity to change the original arrangement, which aims to support the work of artists of the French art scene to gain notoriety abroad through the publication of monographic texts commissioned from international authors.
After examining the writing pitches received, the TextWork editorial committee (comprising François Aubart, Virginie Bobin, Thomas Boutoux, and Elodie Royer) finally chose two writing projects that the committee members will accompany throughout their development until publication.
Thomas Conchou is a curator, co-founder of the curatorial collective Le Syndicat Magnifique, and general coordinator for Societies, a non-profit entity initiated by Jérôme Poggi and approved by the Fondation de France for the implementation of the action Nouveaux commanditaires. In 2020–2021 he was the curator-in-residence at the Maison Populaire art centre in Montreuil, where he conducted a cycle of exhibitions and events concerning artistic practices and queer relationalities. His text will focus on the influence of queer theory on contemporary artistic creation in a French context.
Anysia Troin-Guis is an art critic and certified teacher of modern literature. With a doctorate in comparative literature, in 2017 she defended her thesis entitled Pratiques et poésies expérimentales de 1960 à 1980 : enjeux esthétiques, éthiques et politiques [Experimental Practices and Poetry from 1960 to 1980: Aesthetic, Ethical, and Political Concerns]. A member of the collective Migrations and Altérités, she is currently preparing a book entitled Recherche et action : regards croisés sur les mobilités et l’altérité [Research and Action: Comparative Views on Mobilities and Otherness]. Her text will focus on the importation into the artistic field of critical thinking fuelled by the history of social struggles, radical and alternative pedagogies, and institutional critique.
The two laureates will receive a grant of 1500 euros. Their essays will be published in the summer of 2022, in French and in English.
TextWork fosters and supports the work of artists active in the French art scene through the publication of long-form critical essays produced by international writers. With this program, the Pernod Ricard Foundation reinforces its commitment of over 20 years to supporting and disseminating this art scene. TextWork is initiated in partnership with the French Ministry of Culture.
For more information: textwork [at] fondation-pernod-ricard.com