CRASH VERSION ANGLAISE n°101 - Page 7 - 101 CRASH N°101 WINTER 2023 THE ART ISSUE PUBLISHER FRANK PERRIN EDITOR IN CHIEF & CREATIVE DIRECTOR ARMELLE LETURCQ ART ADVISOR PATRICIA MARSHALL EDITORIAL COORDINATOR ROISIN BREEN MARKET EDITOR MARTINA CONTE GRAPHIC DESIGNER MANON PIGEON ENGLISH VERSION BRIAN MEYER TEXTS ALAIN BERLAND ELORA WEILL-ENGERER FABIENNE DUMONT LAURA COTTINGHAM LISE GUÉHENNEUX FASHION EDITORS ALBA MELENDO ALEXANDRA ASSIL CHIARA FICOLA DEMI DEMU PAULINE GROSJEAN RITA MELSSEN RITA ZEBDI IMAGES ALESSANDRA SANGUINETTI ALEX WEBB ARASH KHAKSARI AXEL HERMANN BRUCE GILDEN CHIARA BRUSCHINI DANIEL REGAN ELISE TOÏDÉ FANNY LATOUR-LAMBERT GARETH MCCONNELL GORKA POSTIGO HARRY GRUYAERT JIM GOLDBERG KAREN PAULINA BISWELL KOOS BREUKEL LAURA MARIE CIEPLIK MANUEL OBADIA-WILLS MARCO CELLA OLIVIA ARTHUR SHAYNE LAVERDIERE SONIA SZÓSTAK THOMAS HAUSER TORBJØRN RØDLAND CRASH MAGAZINE IS PRINTED IN BELGIUM WITH PLANT-BASED INKS ADVERTISING COMMUNITY@CRASH.FR PUBLISHERS ARMELLE LETURCQ & FRANK PERRIN SUBSCRIPTION WWW.CRASH.FR ISSN 1276-4108 CRASH PRODUCTION, SARL AU CAPITAL DE 21 573 EUROS. COMMISSION PARITAIRE 1202K78040. DÉPOT LÉGAL À PARUTION © CRASH TOUS DROITS DE REPRODUCTION RÉSERVÉS. LA REPRODUCTION MÊME PARTIELLE DES ARTICLES ET ILLUSTRATIONS PARUS DANS CRASH EST INTERDITE SANS AUTORISATION PRÉALABLE. CRASH 124 RUE DU CHERCHE MIDI, 75006 PARIS TÉLÉPHONE (+33)143457461 WWW.CRASH.FR Hélène Delprat by Chiara Bruschini Jacqueline de Jong by Koos Breukel King Cobra by Cameron Postforoosh CRASH N°101, THE ART ISSUE, WOMEN ONLY CONSTANTLY DEVALUED, FEMININITY IS FAR MORE OFTEN CALLED INTO QUESTION THAN MASCULINITY EVER IS. BY SHEER FORCE OF CONFRONTING SO MANY CLICHÉS, 1970S FEMINIST ARTISTS WERE ABLE TO VIOLENTLY CHALLENGE THEIR IDENTITY AS WOMEN. BECAUSE ART IS NOT A SEPARATE SPHERE, WHERE EVERYONE ABANDONS THEIR INDIVIDUALITY FOR AN ILLUSORY NEUTRALITY. IF FEMININITY IS STILL OFTEN EXPERIENCED AS A SOCIAL CONSTRAINT, THE CHALLENGE IS TO RECONNECT WITH A FREEDOM OF ACTION AND DISCOVER A GENUINE OPENNESS THAT COULD ENRICH ARTISTIC AND EMANCIPATORY SEARCH IN FRESH, NEW WAYS. BUT FAR FROM IDENTITY CLAIMS THAT ARE CONTENT TO OPPOSE THE MASCULINE, IT TURNS OUT THAT IF FEMININITY MAKES SENSE TODAY, IT IS IN A WAY THAT HAS A POTENTIAL FOR PLURALITY. IT’S AS IF THE IDENTITY SUPERNOVA HAD EXPLODED: THERE ARE NOW ONLY MINORITIES, PLURAL FEMININITIES IN THE THROES OF BECOMING, OPENING UP THE POSSIBILITY OF NEW REFERENCE POINTS AND DESIRES UNDER CONSTRUCTION. THIS ISSUE IS, THEREFORE, DEDICATED TO THE POTENTIAL OF THIS CONSTANTLY EXPANDING CONSTELLATION OF WOMEN... A. L. PORTÉ PAR LA NATURE, FAÇONNÉ PAR LE TEMPS DOM RUINART, LE BLANC DE BLANCS PAR EXCELLENCE L’ABUS D’ALCOOL EST DANGEREUX POUR LA SANTÉ, À CONSOMMER AVEC MODÉRATION. A.K. BURNS P.10 LEE SOOK-KYUNG P.12 MARIKO MORI P.18 AÏDA BRUYÈRE P.20 EVA JOSPIN P.24 JACQUELINE DE JONG P.26 LEE LOZANO P.32 HÉLÈNE DELPRAT P.34 EWA JUSZKIEWICZ P.40 KING COBRA P.42 VALIE EXPORT P.56 LAUREN TASCHEN P.58 ANTONETA ALAMAT KUSIJANOVIC P.64 SOPHIE KITCHING P.68 NIL YALTER P.70 YVONNE RAINER P.74 BLESS P.78 PATRICIA AYRES P.82 ART ISSUE N°101 DECEMBER 2023 10 CRASH SUNSET AT SCUM POND A.K. BURNS Born in 1975, Burns is an American interdisciplinary artist and educator whose work focuses on social and political issues and gender activism, utilising a range of mediums from video and sculpture to installation. A.K. Burns’ latest exhibition “Sunset at Scum Pond”, at the Michel Rein Gallery in Paris, highlights various artworks that express the artist’s exploration of the body as a space, where strong socio-political issues are challenged. In the Split Tongues series the artist utilizes black industrial tarps to evoke the lapel of a tuxedo, reworking the material via a tailoring process usually referred to in fashion as “ruching”. The artwork becomes an expression of duality where masculinity and femininity blend to create unique meaning and gesture. Split Tongues is a significant work that fully expresses the ideals and perspectives of the artist, while also perfectly reflecting the contrasting opinions of the current cultural and political sphere. Another notable work in the exhibition is The Leak (2023), a sculptural monument dedicated to Chelsea Manning, the American activist and whistleblower who served as an Army Intelligence Officer during the Iraq war and was convicted and imprisoned for her involvement with Wikileaks and Julian Assange and the disclosure of sensitive US government material. The garment alludes to the concept of “dispersion” and “loss” of information, playing with the meaning behind the work and seeking to delve more deeply into the artist’s interpretation of “leaky bodies”: a term coined by the artist which indicates the fluidity of gender and individuals with non-conforming gender identities, such as trans and non-binary bodies that go beyond traditional denominations. Mirror Collage is a series of collages that are transformed into tangible surfaces. Each mirror presents different elements from everyday life that manage to transform the surrounding space. Works in the On hands and buckets, Adaptive walker (medical boot), Night Shift series narratively explore daily life through figures crafted from steel rebar and mesh; industrial materials used to reinforce concrete. These sculptures represent an empty and depleted body aimed to tell the autobiographies of individuals living in impossible and challenging conditions, particularly those of low paid laborers and women coming from precarious backgrounds, experiencing difficulties in labor and childbirth. Text Martina Conte, A.K. Burns, “Sunset at Scum Pond” Michel Rein Gallery, Paris, From December 2nd to January 27th . A.K. Burns, The Leak, 2023. Replica of Chelsea Manning’s military jacket, concrete, garment bag, and metal hanger, 62×4×18 in. Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein, Paris/Brussels. 12 13 CRASH CRASH Prada’s “Plural and Parallel” at Kote art space in Seoul, held during Frieze Seoul in September 2023, marked a transcendent fusion of art and fashion. Kote, originally a furniture store from 1964, has become an art center in Seoul’s effervescent “Jongno” district. The exhibition featured three site-specific installations by famous Korean directors Kim Jee-woon, Yeon Sang-ho, and Jeong Dahee, exploring cinematic themes. Each a master of their craft, their cinematic visions creating three different parallel worlds. The curator, Lee Sook-Kyung, also led the 14th Gwangju Biennale in 2023 and has just been appointed curator of the Japanese pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. “Plural and Parallel” transcended boundaries, enriching Seoul’s cultural landscape, and celebrating the enduring power of art in a captivating setting. INTERVIEW ARMELLE LETURCQ The Shadows of Faded Old Love by Kim Jee-woon lee sook-kyung plural and parallel 14 15 CRASH CRASH ARMELLE LETURCQ Did you choose the concept of the “Plural and Parallel” exhibition, produced by Prada Mode in Seoul? Can you explain the idea behind it? LEE SOOK-KYUNG Prada Mode celebrates creative energy and context of its chosen cities. Born and raised in Seoul and having lived in the UK for the past twenty-five years, I wanted to focus on Seoul’s unique yet globally recognizable characters. “Plural and Parallel” highlights multifaceted, complex, distinctive creative visions of the city, as well as the singular worlds of the three film directors, Kim Jee-woon, Yeon Sang-ho and Jeong Dahee. AL Why did you choose to make an exhibition around cinema and art? LSK Contemporary Korean films have attracted international attention through film festivals and mainstream awards for many decades. Their diversity in style, narrative and subjects is fascinating, often exceeding normative conventions. Film in general is also a great cultural conduit that showcases the real, the imagined and the probable. I thought that an art exhibition would be an interesting frame for thinking about films that reflect here and now. AL Why did you choose film directors to make installations, and not visual artists? LSK Film directors don’t see physical spaces like visual artists. Visual artists have also used film as their artistic medium for many years, and they are called “timebased art” for their durational quality. However, one major difference seems to be that film directors create a storyline first and plot the space as a backdrop or indication of narrative or psychological space. It was also intriguing for me to collaborate across disciplines so that formal languages intrinsic to visual art and films could cross-fertilise to create something in-between. AL How did the directors feel about working on this project? Were they excited to be working in a different medium? Was it a first time for them? LSK They were very interested in the project from the beginning, recognizing the innovative nature of the proposal. As they had been committed to other projects, all had to adjust their schedule and make time for conceptualizing and realizing the installations. Director Kim had collaborated with Prada for its Transformer project previously but for all the three directors, I believe that this was the first full-scale art installation. As Yeon and Jeong studied painting and design for their degrees, it was a chance for them to be reconnected with their artistic origin. AL Is it the first time that you have worked with a fashion brand? LSK Yes, and I see Prada as more than a fashion brand, as they run two major contemporary art institutions in Milan and Venice. Both institutions have critically acclaimed artistic programs that are highly respected in the visual art world. AL How do you see the relation between fashion and art? LSK Both are fundamentally about creativity but I see their strengths in their differences. AL Is there a connection with Frieze Seoul? LSK Frieze Seoul is a great addition to the rich artistic infrastructure of Seoul. We chose the dates of Prada Mode Seoul to coincide with Frieze to enable locals and visitors to enjoy the whole artistic scene the week offers. Otherwise, there is no direct connection. AL You are the curator of the next Japanese pavilion at the Venice Biennale. What does that mean for you? LSK I served as Commissioner & Curator of the Korean Pavilion for the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 and I feel humbled to curate the Pavilion for a second time. For Japan and Korea, who are both countries which have a long yet complex history involving wars and colonialism, it is particularly meaningful for me to be the first foreign curator of the Japan Pavilion in Venice. AL How does it feel to come back to your home country to organize an exhibition? LSK I just curated the 14th Gwangju Biennale as its Artistic Director in the spring of 2023, which had a significant personal meaning. I remember visiting the first Gwangju Biennale in 1995, only fifteen years after the Gwangju Uprising, one of the most tragic but proud historic events that paved a way to democracy in South Korea. The country has evolved enormously, as have its art and culture, and I feel touched by recent interests from global organizations such as Prada. Kim Jee-woon, a director who has skillfully reinterpreted a vast range of film genres throughout his career, from the dark humor of The Quiet Family to the horror of A Tale of Two Sisters. The installation he created for Prada Mode Seoul, The Shadows of Faded Old Love, is an evocative journey through memory, an exploration of what is disappearing from the ever-evolving metropolis of Seoul, where its foggy streets blend with memories of a summer spent in a now-empty house. The environment, produced in collaboration with art director Nara Lee, is a delicate intertwining of shadows and memories, and an invitation to discover Pyoung-Sang, which was a communal place in Korean neighborhoods where anyone could gather to work, relax or simply hang out. A space which evokes a sense of community and belonging, where stories are shared on warm summer nights. The Shadows of faded old love by Kim Jee-woon. kim jee-woon Jeong Dahee, an internationally renowned animation director, transforms the space with Paper, Light, Ghost. After captivating the world with Man on the Chair and The Empty, Jeong invites the spectator into an environment where reality and animation merge. The Kote library becomes a theater of lights and shadows, a place where projections dance and tell stories of intermediate and transient spaces. It’s a world suspended between reality and fantasy, where projections and monitors guide the viewer through scenarios that oscillate between the real and the surreal, as if we were catapulted inside her animated films, in a ballet of shadows and lights. Paper, Light, Ghost by Jeong Dahee. jeong dahee “Plural and Parallel” highlights multifaceted, complex, distinctive creative visions of the city, as well as the singular worlds of the three film directors, Kim Jee-woon, Yeon Sang-ho and Jeong Dahee. 17 CRASH Yeon Sang-ho, known for his ability to tell stories across a range of different formats, from the animated film The King of Pigs to the global hit Train to Busan, immerses us in Hellbound. This installation is a sensory experience that delves deep into a story of cult and destiny. His installation depicts a crime scene with small rooms referencing the religious cult story of the main character, Jeong Jin-soo, and his fated death. The rooms reveal clues and fragments of the plot, culminating in a pure white space, symbolizing the fragility of faith and disbelief. Hellbound by Yeon Sang-ho. yeon sang-ho Film directors don’t see physical spaces like visual artists. Visual artists have also used film as their artistic medium for many years, and they are called “time-based art” for their durational quality. However, one major difference seems to be that film directors create a storyline first and plot the space as a backdrop or indication of narrative or psychological space. 18 CRASH DIOR LADY ART BY MARIKO MORI Micro “Lady Dior” bag in matte white leather, removable case in iridescent resin, jewellery in white ultra matte, with an iridescent charm signature. Limited Edition in collaboration with Mariko Mori, Dior Photographer Chiara Bruschini, Stylist Roisin Breen, Set Designer Cléo Perrin. Artist Mariko Mori is known for her artistic universe that skillfully explores universal questions at the intersection of life, death, and reality, making extensive use of technology. Her artistic career began with her disguises of manga characters, which inspired her work for the first ten years, in a series of pieces called Play With Me (1994) and Subway (1994). Recently, Mariko Mori has designed a fascinating house in her own image on Miyako Island in Japan, which she has coined, Yuputira, after the island’s sun gods. Mariko Mori was one of the artists selected for the Dior Lady Art #8 project, for which she reinterpreted the famous Lady Dior bag in her distinctive futuristic vision using innovative materials such as cast plastic, lenticular, and fiber optic fabric with LED. MARTINA CONTE In your first works in the 90s, you played with your own identity, acting out different characters through your art, using both video and photography. Has cosplay culture influenced you? MARIKO MORI At the time, I believe that cosplay was not yet introduced, so I was inspired by figures in animation. MC Asyouareplayingthesedifferentrolesor“clichés”ofwomen, is your work focused specifically on female identity? MM For Tea Ceremony I, II, III, it was a direct social comment on the unequal position of women in society. MC Do you consider yourself a feminist? MM I admire feminine qualities which I believe could greatly contribute to society. MC Since you emerged as an artist at the end of the 90s, what changes in regards to female empowerment have you seen in Japan? MM There are more opportunities. Talented women are more appreciated and are offered greater positions than they were thirty years ago. However, it requires more development to achieve true equality. MC Your works seem heavily influenced by a sci-fi aesthetic. Where does this come from? MM When I was in my childhood, the first TV program I watched was Astro Boy by Tezuka Osamu which may have influenced me. MC Has cinema had a big impact on your artistic aesthetic? MM Yes. MC Could you tell us about your house in Miyako island? How did you come up with such a futuristic yet elegant house? Could you also explain its name “Yuputira” and from where it is derived? MM Inspired by the organic form of coral cobblestones on the seashore and a cave, a primal home where one would be protected from the power of nature, I designed Yuputira to reflect the surrounding landscape in order to contemplate on the beauty of the pristine nature. Yuptira is a word I coined after the name of the island’s sun god, according to local myths and songs. MC What is the difference between creating a “traditional” work of art and creating a “wearable” work of art like these limited editions of Lady Dior? MM Functionality and durability are required for wearable works of art, but fundamentally, the process of making is equally enjoyable. MC Where did you find inspiration for the three bags? What are their meanings? MM One bag features an inner landscape inspired by the alaya – Buddhism’s eighth consciousness – changing as the bag is moved. The second celebrates Dior elegance through a bow made from an innovative fabric that lights up in array of select colors in a crafted sequence. The last is held in a rainbow-colored bubble representing a space-time capsule. The “O” of the “D, I, O, R” charms bears a model of a monumental sculptural installation, Ring: One with Nature. MC You could say that your artistic career really exploded in the 2000s. What has changed since then? MM My body of work has focused more on the invisible dimension. MC What was the beginning of your career like? MM I felt that I was lucky to arrive in the early 90s when the art world started to appreciate the voice from the East and Japanese popular culture was starting to be well-recognized in the world through animation and comics. Text Martina Conte aïda bruyère red lipstick monsterz Aïda Bruyère is a multidisciplinary artist born in Mali. A graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, she lives and works in France. Winner of the Grand Prix at the 64th Salon de Montrouge, she has exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo, La Villette, Sample Sample and Centquatre. Her practice is fundamentally camp, as defined by Susan Sontag in her 1964 book. In this sense, Aïda Bruyère tends towards artifice and exaggeration, mixing DIY, theater and performance with a hyper-feminine symbolism that doesn’t take itself too seriously. On the occasion of her solo show at Galerie Pact in October 2023, curator Elora Weill-Engerer and the artist discuss the feminist stakes of a work driven by exaggeration and solidarity between women. INTERVIEW ELORA WEILL-ENGERER ELORA WEILL-ENGERER Your work is multi-media and multi-disciplinary. You are equally at home whether you are creating fanzines or building immersive installations. Can you introduce yourself and tell us how you developed your artistic practice? What is your background and what media have you experimented with? AÏDA BRUYÈRE My name is Aïda Bruyère and I am twenty-eight years old. I am a multidisciplinary visual artist who works mainly in installation. I studied at the École des Beaux-arts de Paris, after two years of preparatory classes for art schools at the Atelier de Sèvres. I graduated in 2020. At the Beaux-arts de Paris, I actually got my start by working with printed images (silkscreen, risographs, etc.) and more specifically with publishing. I was part of a small group of students who had not truly found their place in the school’s “classic” workshops. So we then moved into one of the technical workshops, which was the silkscreen workshop run by Julien Sirjacq. That is where we all got our start. We had no assigned workstations and had to find ways to produce art without much room. Hence the choice of publishing: inexpensive and easy to put away. Silkscreen printing also enabled me to tackle subjects that interested me more spontaneously than if I had launched immediately into a large-scale piece. It offered me a slightly more polished kind of research notebook. The world of micro-publishing and fanzines is very important to me. It’s a nerdy scene where it’s very easy to get to know people and share ideas. I was immediately drawn to the democratic aspect of this practice: with next to nothing you can produce an object that automatically acquires a market value. It can be sold or traded, which gives it a viral form of movement. Collecting fanzines is more accessible than collecting art. Another aspect I admire about this practice is its history, which is closely related to the convictions I associate with my work. Originating among punk fans and incorporating a strong DIY element, screen printing very quickly became the preferred method of disseminating political essays in activist circles. It was while taking part in the 64th Salon de Montrouge in 2019 that I finally took my head out of the books to develop my work in full-scale installations. I quickly acquired a taste for it. However, even though I produce fewer publications today, the logic of storytelling is always present in the way I imagine my pieces. EWE Your fanzines regularly feature references to moments in your life and places you have visited. As long as I have known you, I have always been sensitive – and I do not think I am the only one – to the sincerity and spontaneity of the way you talk about your work. We get the sense that you dare to associate pleasure with creation and that you consider a practice to be strong and accessible when its expression comes from the heart. Is your work linked to any personal experiences? AB Absolutely. I was born in Dakar and grew up in Bamako, which I left in 2012 to start my higher education in Paris. My mother and father-in-law are shopkeepers there. Their work and the fact that I grew up there have a considerable impact on the way I think. Not necessarily on the final image I put together, but more on the installation systems, reflections and stories I tell. My father-in-law is a barkeeper in Bamako, so my sisters and I were able to wander around Bamako’s nightlife when we were very young. This nightlife is the main starting point for the reflections I develop in my artistic production. EWE Nightlife was also your first avenue for pursuing the question of women in public space and their representation. Your work embodies a radical affirmation of self and female identity by challenging norms and expectations. How do you see the feminist approach in your practice? AB It’s a necessity. I think like many people, I truly realized the importance of feminism with #MeToo. Looking back, I think I’ve always been a feminist but I just didn’t embrace it. Remember when we were teenagers in the 2000s, it was almost an insult to be called a feminist! When I look back at the work I was doing before entering the Beaux-arts, there was clearly a seed already there! The huge event of #MeToo really shook me up and made me realize a lot of things. Above all, it made me aware of a form of anger that was inside me. I was gripped by this intense anger that just wouldn’t go away. It was as if someone had suddenly put truth glasses on me and I could see everything in HD! Today, I’ve learned to regulate these emotions, but I think this anger is still felt in my work, which bears witness to a form of violence and resounding melancholy. EWE Your artistic work is characterized by a bold and thoughtful exploration of notions of hyperfemininity, outrageousness and feminism. These elements are strikingly deployed in your installations and creations, which often verge on popular culture and theater. One of the major themes you tackle is the question of the body, which takes on a particular significance between the “performativity of gender” mentioned by Judith Butler and Pamela Robertson’s notion of “feminist camp”. How do your thoughts on hyperfemininity and seduction influence your representation of the body? And more broadly, how do you see these bodily explorations contributing to your feminist approaches? AB For me, the relationship with the body is inseparable from feminism, in the sense that gender inequalities are inextricably entwined with it. In my work, I talk about a female body that takes up space. A body that is not afraid to stretch out, make noise and get in the way. It’s an extrafem* (*extrafeminine) body that embraces the shackles assigned to it to turn them into a strength, a weapon. It is not there to seduce, in fact it is rather imposing, almost terrifying. I imagine that in my work there’s a woman, an Amazon who mutates. She is always there, in different forms, not necessarily visible, but always leaving a trace behind her. This Amazon fights, dances, wears makeup, lounges, destroys everything in her path, only to rebuild behind her. This character, which you never see but who is always there, is one that I have built over the course of my conversations and encounters with other women who have impressed and galvanized me. She is all in one, embodying a range of personalities that I admire. A sort of Frankenstein for women! It is this body that inhabits my installations. EWE Your work is rooted in a variety of influences, from an American camp aesthetic to feminist performance art from the 1970s. How do these influences manifest themselves in your practice, and how do you draw on them to create your own visual language? AB I admit to having a soft spot for American aesthetics. From pop art to post-pop, it speaks to me. However, I would be hard pressed to tell you who influences me the most. I go through obsessive phases with certain artists who capture my attention for a more or less long 22 23 CRASH CRASH 2 3 1 4 5 period of time, depending on what I am working on. At the moment, I am in my Marylin Minter phase, who is described as a painter from the feminist realist movement. Before that, I had my Cady Noland phase, and before that it was Sylvie Fleury. I am also hugely inspired by artists from the music industry. The number one in my heart is Leikeli47, even though she hasn’t produced anything in a while, along with Sampa the Great. Many of my pieces are inspired by his sounds. I went through my BigKlit phase. She makes me laugh too much, and I really like her hyper-extreme, vulgar side with its contradictory musical styles. She has a freedom in her whole universe that really inspires me. This year I had a big Alan Vega period, with the Resurrection River album that I listened to over and over again in my car. Especially I Got Wheels, I Got Nails. That song inspired one of my latest pieces, entitled I Got Heels, I Got Nails, which puts my own personal twist on Alan Vega’s lyrics, which continues with the line Give me a hammer. He refers here to the quintessential notion of Man the Maker, which is only fitting. In this piece, I play with the codes associated with metal band merchandising (also a very masculine universe) to create a series of paintings on hoodies representing the three main visual elements found in my work: Nails / Make Up / Dancehall. Hooked onto pegs in the shape of fluorescent green nail artist training fingers, each hoodie seems to embody each of the avatars I create in my work. EWE How do you imagine an artwork that would fully embody these ideas and values, the kind of work you dream of making? AB I don’t really know, but what I do know is that whenever I really like an artist’s work, I always think, “Shit, I wish I had created that piece!” Otherwise, I would love to do a video for some badass chick like Rihanna, but it doesn’t seem like she is planning to release anything new by then. Or Ice Spice! But let’s just say that I’m not really the type to dream about the artwork I would like to make. If I dream about making a piece, I find a way to make it, even if it takes a while. When it’s finished, I dream of making another, and so on! EWE I have the pleasure of supporting you as the curator of your first solo show this October at Galerie PACT. In our discussions, we talked about the need to inhabit certain paradoxes as feminists. Can exploring these paradoxes be seen as a process in itself, aimed at deconstructing traditional notions and opening up new perspectives on feminism and female expression in contemporary art? AB For me, this brings us back to the previous question of the relationship to the body in my work. I approach the question of feminism through an exacerbated femininity, which for some may seem like a paradoxical approach to this topic. However, I think that in 2023, we are lucky enough to have a panel of hyperfeminist and militant feminist figures and muses in front of us, giving us the tools to defend this form of feminism. In fact, Elora, we were both lucky enough to attend Myriam Bahaffou’s conference at Artagon Pantin last June. This brilliant researcher in ecofeminism really inspired us in her way of linking feminism, hyperfeminism, activism and research: she perfectly assumes the ambiguity and different paradoxes she carries and uses them as a strength! EWE We met as part of the Artagon residency program in the Loiret region of France, and immediately placed the notion of sisterhood at the heart of our relationship, as well as in our professional dealings. We began by living together, through intimacy and friendship, before connecting from an artistic point of view. I think friendship is an essential notion in feminism, and Janice Raymond (unfortunately known for her transphobic positions) was one of the first to tackle this question in her book A Passion for Friends, as well as in Bell Hooks’sisterhood: Political Solidarity between Women. AB Yes, we met at a crucial moment in both our careers and our personal lives. The fact that we spent a few days together in this residence, just between women, enabled us to really speak from the heart and to loosen our tongues on subjects we rarely dared to dare to discuss in particular. It reinforced my conviction that I really needed to put this issue at the heart of my research. Moreover, we discussed the idea of creating a (virtual) space for this kind of discussion. It’s a work in progress! EWE In conclusion, how do you see the evolution of your work in recent years and the future of your artistic practice? What are the challenges of this exhibition at Galerie PACT? AB I think I have matured. I have had many moments of doubt and questioning, which have enabled me to ask myself the right questions and to anchor myself even more firmly in my practice. What’s also different from my first pieces is that I am now drawing a lot of inspiration from my favorite subjects. In any case, it is by working and experimenting that a practice moves forward. I am able to take much more radical positions today, because I have more words to defend them. Charlotte Trivini and Pierre-Arnaud Doucède, the directors of Galerie PACT, proposed this exhibition at just the right time for me to follow this path. The fact that they invited us to work side by side with you, Elora, without knowing that we were friends, reinforced my desire to present a project that marks a transition in my work. The discussions we have already had together on the question of feminism, and the support you have given me in my reflections on the pieces, can only lead me to produce an even more an assertive form. With the Red Lipstick Monsterz exhibition, we are presenting a feminist statement. I am even happier to be working with you on this exhibition, as we share the same values and are able to debate. This combination will enable us to present something strong! For me, it is also an exhibition that allows me to clarify the techniques I have put in place and to assert a visual proposition that is part of a body of work I have mastered and in which I leave very little to chance, despite what you might think. The gallery will be transformed into the lair of the hyperfeminine Amazon I mentioned earlier. A monstress dripping with lip gloss will welcome us with her large, menacing claws in her candy box of destruction. Welcome! Previous page: Portrait of the artist by Nyo Jinyong Lian. 1. Aïda Bruyère, Chat to Mi Back, 2020, Installation. 2. Aïda Bruyère, Make Up Destroyerz II, 2022, Performance. 3. Aïda Bruyère, Bakou, 2019, Installation. 4. Aïda Bruyère, Never Again, 2022, Palais de Tokyo, Installation, © Aurélien Môle. 5. Aïda Bruyère, Les petites filles ont posé leurs fusils, 2023, Centre Culturel Jean Cocteau, Installation. 24 25 CRASH CRASH EVA JOSPIN PROMENADES EN CHAMPAGNE As 2023’s Ruinart Carte Blanche invitée, French artist Eva Jospin proposed an offering of her own take of the Montagne de Reims, with a series of works that consisted of the cardboard sculptures Jospin is famed for, intricate embroidered tapestries, and Indian Ink drawings. In parallel to the series of artworks Eva Jospin also offered a limited collection of a Jéroboam of Blanc de blancs, remodeling the bottle’s wooden case which opens up into a mesmerizing miniature feature of her cardboard œuvres, sculpted and molded into an intricate web depicting the forest. The bottle itself fits neatly inside a nook, reflecting the delicate manufacturing process in which the Champagne requires protection from the light. Jospin herself is an advocate of the region and the protection of the fragile and ancient territories. From the intertwining roots of the underworld to the unparalleled savoirfaire of the artisans, she invites viewers into Ruinart’s universe, an effervescent cycle of past, present and future, nature and mankind. Text Roisin Breen All images: Eva Jopsin, Promenade(s) En Champagne, Carte Blanche Ruinart 2023.
CRASH VERSION ANGLAISE n°101 - Page 7
CRASH VERSION ANGLAISE n°101 - Page 8
viapresse
