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EXHIBITION
Rebecca
Bournigault
"La Chambre interdite"
When
the innocence of a tale is just an appearance
>>
Exhibition from 8 october to 20 november 2005
Friday 7 october
>
From 10h to noon
: private opening
> From 20h to midnight
: public opening
>>> Dowload the press kit (439 Kb)
La
Chambre interdite, video still, 2005
Art and Psychoanalysis
The Palais de Tokyo, site de création contemporaine, is pleased
to present Rebecca Bournigault's "La Chambre interdite" ("The
Forbidden Room"), the artist's latest installation, which will be on
show from 08 October to 20 November 2005. This enigmatic piece is a turning point in the artist's output, involving a new artistic material
and an original display. Currently exploring Charles Perrault's tale of Blue
Beard and similar stories from around the world ("Mr. Fox" in England,
"Blue Beard and Fitcher's Bird" by the Brothers Grimm in Germany,
ancient Asian, African, and Amerindian tales…), Bournigault has used
her work in the visual arts to deepen the psychoanalytical issues that are in play (as Bruno Bettelheim brought them to light in his "The
Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales").
*********************************************************
The Forbidden Room
Perrault's tale explores the theme of the forbidden room. It is a
theme that resonates with some of Bournigault's major concerns in the visual-arts
field. Bournigault's work plunges viewers into that place where the fairy
tale, a basic element in individuals' socialization, partakes of the collective
unconscious in the development of our societies, and forces them to situate
themselves with respect to their own values, fears, and taboos, along with
those of the society they live and move in.The
artist pushes viewers to pit themselves physically against the piece
and create an intimate connection with it.
La
Chambre interdite, video still, 2005
*********************************************************
A Revisited Fairy Tale
For children fairy tales have a cathartic effect. Here the adult (the viewer)
confronts an unexpected violence and finds him- or herself in a certain way
in contradiction with the calming effect of the narration. The relationship
that we, as "overconsumers" of images and stories, have with film
and more generally images is consequently questioned, starting with that very violence that feeds our unconscious.
*********************************************************
Scared
to Death
"La Chambre interdite" concentrates these issues and pushes
the visitor shut within the installation to react. Four films projected against
the four walls of a closed room plunge us into the mysterious atmosphere of
the Blue Beard tale. On each screen an actor tells the version of the tale
that exists in his or her mother tongue (French, English, Argentine Spanish
and German).Use
of these different languages confuses viewers, who, according to
their mother tongue, will understand one, several, or none of the stories
being related. That confusion thrusts them back into the state of
childhood and innocent confusion, to a time when Blue Beard indeed
scared them, scared the daylights out of them.
*********************************************************
Technical
File
"La Chambre interdite" is a video installation
that is made up of four video films projected on the four walls of a square
room. The films feature the portrait-busts of four persons of different nationalities
(French, Anglo-Saxon, Argentinian and German). All four speak at once, telling
a children's fairy tale from their respective countries on
the theme of the "forbidden room," which likewise serves as the
title of the installation. At a crucial turning point in the narrative each
of the four figures, through a dissolve effect, has his or her head cut off
by a saber that is barely visible. By turns each screen runs with blood: the
space becomes red.
*********************************************************
General Curators :
Nicolas Bourriaud, Jérôme Sans
Curator of the exhibition :
Daria Joubert
*********************************************************
At
the same period:
“Robert
Malaval,
kamikaze”
14 Sept > 08 Jan 05
Nobuyoshi Araki
Arakinema
08 Oct > 23 Oct 05
Saâdane
Afif
“Lyrics”
08 Oct > 20 Nov 05
Sarah Morris
“Endeavor
[Los
Angeles]”
08 Oct > 08 Jan 05
Valéry Grancher
“Shiwiars”
Sept-Oct 05
*********************************************************
Media
partner
*********************************************************
Permanent partnership
With the support of Porter Novelli,
Public-Relations Consultants
*********************************************************
Communications Manager
Sofianne Le Bourhis
assisted by Mylène Ferrand
Tél : + 33 1 47 23 54 57
sofianne@palaisdetokyo.com
Press Contact
Tél : + 33 1 47 23 52 00
presse@palaisdetokyo.com
Palais de Tokyo,
Site de création contemporaine
13, avenue du Président Wilson
F - 75116 Paris
Tél : +33 1 4723 5401 & +33 1 4723 3886
Fax: + 33 1 4720 1531
www.palaisdetokyo.com
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