EXQUISITE, interesting, and unpredictable. These words aptly describe the visual arts presentation of this year’s French Spring in Manila, which showcases photographs from French artist, Philippe Laleu, and an innovative video presentation by 15 French artists.
Philippe Laleu found Detroit City, USA as a good subject for his new set. Ordinary Fictions showed photographs of a city ignored as people speed along.
The city’s industrial landscape is shown on sepia and blue print while the portraits are in full color. Hanged like shirts on the wall, the works narrate a journey of people through modernity and globalization.
It is not difficult to define Laleu’s personal iconography among the varied materials and images that appear on his work. He just wants people to be aware of history and appreciate the things that are not given much attention. “Cities have been built for us, by us,” he said.
Videotrafic is a travelling exhibition featuring works by 15 artists living in France. It illustrates how people experience the world with the constant traffic of signs of art and digital information. The works are presented as virtual images in cinematic form.
The artists and curator, Alexandre Pollazon, shared a distinctive approach on the sizing, editing, and installation of the video work. The idea is to project a selection of video clips that explores many different ways of producing film images that are free from the conventional and traditional forms of narrative.
According to Pollazon, the artists believe in the possibility of disseminating art in any part of the world and in any kind of space in a medium accessible enough for museums, art centers, galleries as well as in cinemas, classrooms, and even on a television set. Although an unprecedented mass distribution of culture could not be expected that soon, they didn’t accept any reason to abandon the idea of trying to popularize the medium.
The Videotrafic clips included works from: Adel Abdessemed, “Mens Moi” (Lie To Me); Boris Achour, “Un Monde Qui S’accorde A Nos Desirs” (A World In Tune With Our Wants); Leticia Benat, Total Raidiance; Kim Sop Boninsegni, Enthropic Song/A Non-Language; Rebecca Bournigault, Preliminaires (Preliminaries); Frank David, “Generique” (Credits); Brice Dellsperger, Body Double 1; Marina Faust, I Wanna Be/The Slit; Anne Fremy, “Transfert” (Transfer); Bernard Joisten, “Les Adventures” (The Adventures); Ange Leccia, “Egypte” (Egypt); Christelle Lheureux, Kuala Zone; Georges Tony Stoll, Freedy; Jean-luc Vilmouth, “You and Me Avec Bill Kuschner”; and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Maumi is a PC Operator. Jhervy C. Nuez
