2013/14 - LISTE 18 | The young art fair in Basel

Marcelle Alix0/9/8Marcelle Alix GalerieIsabelle AlfonsiCécilia Becanovic4, rue Jouye-RouveFR-75020 ParisT +33 9 50 04 16 80F +33 9 55 04 16 80M +33 6 32 45 80 47demain@marcellealix.comwww.marcellealix.comShown at LISTE:Mathieu K. Abonnenc, 1977, FRAurélien Froment, 1976, FRLouise Hervé, 1981, FR & Chloé Maillet, 1981, FRCharlotte Moth, 1978, UKErnesto Sartori, 1982, ITOther Artists of the Gallery:Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, CH/DEMarie Cool & Fabio Balducci, FR/ITIan Kiaer, UKLaura Lamiel, FRMarie Voignier, FRErnesto SartoriUne moitié del’immeuble Sinus1/3, Maquette(detail), 2010–2012Wood, paint, dyes,screws157 × 139 × 96 cmView of theexhibition ‘Whentwo become one’,Marcelle Alix, Paris,2013Photo: Aurélien MoleCourtesy MarcelleAlix, Paris126 / 127PossessedIn Witold Gombrowicz’s eponymousGothic novel, the main character seems tobe affected by an unknown illness thatundermines his physical integrity (the hero’slips get twice tainted with a terriblelead-like colour), as soon as he gets closeby an ancient house, and in particularnear the old kitchen where a grey towelfilled with dust and shivering with‘repulsive pangs’ lies. The towel is aninvented construction meant to confrontthe un-expressed which should remain inthe shadow. In the novel, the towel isused as a medium to trace back the sourceof evil and make the past express itselfas unimaginable, as a resisting present anda disquieting future. The reader of the bookwonders about a disturbing kinshipwhich upsets social conventions, captivatesspirits and spreads some mystical fluids.In the collective show that we areproposing, the beholder is confronted withthe repetition of traumas and with thestatement mouthed by the narrator ofMathieu K. Abonnenc’s An Italian Film (2012):‘when births no longer symbolize thecontinuation of life received through ritesbut our realities superimpose on deathsnot being honoured in the chaos of war’.Thinking about the dynamics promptedby the conflicts between contradictoryforces, heritages and splits that come fromthem, ‘Possessed’ sheds light on differentprojects involving– the consequences of the fierce campaignto appropriate indigenous copper inKatanga starting in the 16th century(a project by Mathieu K. Abonnencshown at Biennale de Rennes, MUDAMLuxemburg, Bielefelder Kunstverein andKunsthalle Basel, 2012–2013)– the poetry of images made at theincredible ‘Ideal Palace’ of Facteur Cheval(photographs by Aurélien Froment, 2013)– the subtle rehabilitation of a solitarymodern building (Charlotte Moth’s WillaNiespodzianka, 2012)– the reconfiguration of a daily prophecyby Gary and Duane, Ernesto Sartori’sdoppelgangers– A treatise on Baths, starring a mysteriousAtlantean (Louise Hervé & Chloé Maillet’sslideshow) MA