Curtain

Curtain the ob/scene
or what can happen
beyond the scene
besides the eye
before language
beneath the skin
below the image
on the surface

People do not see you. They invent you and accuse you.
Hélène Cixous

Curtain unfolded
allowing passages or separations
filtering light, voices
clothing bodies and furniture
ornamenting a house, a skin
absorbing smells, sounds
reflecting shadows
flowing with the wind
breathing

Curtain the real

 
 
 
What we call “reality” is actually already a re-presentation
framed by fiction, narration, history, propaganda, lie, pretention of truth, memory, landscape, documentary.

 
 
 
 
Curtain has the ability to produce an effect of « the real »
that consists of turning mimesis (imitation of reality) against itself
by radical dissimilarity or literal operation.
What we name “the real” is not synonym of reality,
it is rarely a (human) construction or re-presentation
through language and image.
According to the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, “The real, or what is perceived as such, is absolutely resisting to symbolization (symbolic)” . Thus, the real always escapes from/to language and reality, a kind of unspeakable, traumatic experience, beyond any truth.
All the question is thus to observe how a figure can be created to open up the image to something that is out of any representation.

 
 
 
 
To give a new meaning to the words of the other
And then these words made mine
Shaped with vigorous cuts
Reveal a history of the unsaid,
the awkwardly said, the badly said
Diverse but so alike
Small bits of stories that cannot make history
Into a difference claiming for an undulating, moving,
dancing multiplicity Into a language transcribing, translating
Chantal Spitz, Souls in Exile.

Curtain the transitional object

 
 
a fetish
a missed self
the other

 
 
 
 
caress             kiss                smash             sniff                rub                 blow                cut

 
 
 
 
Curtain performed
as a scenographic material for
theater
opera
dance
exhibition
cinema
music
puppet show
TV news and entertainment

 
 
 
 
Whispering                 Telling             Dreaming        Shouting         Crying             Echoing

Curtain fading out
 
 
 
a retrieval
a disappearance
a blank
a lightening

 
 
 
 
It is very precious to cultivate active strategies of invisibility today. By promoting extra visibility we are either appropriated by the market, or we go into a formatted way of thinking and curating. Invisibility is a huge paradox, especially when you are working with art, in a museum to curate exhibitions, showcase artists, display artworks, promote art projects.

But in a society of extra surveillance, permanent self promotion and political propaganda, the most interesting artists and researchers today are the ones trying to dig deeper, escaping the facade of art and the glossy social media screens, exploring micro-dimensions, creating the conditions of new forms of creation and experience.
It is about challenging the dominant discourses and institutions, going step-by-step, learning deeper, not compromising, but also taking radical and decisive positions… Invisibility today is not to be inexistent, but it is exactly the contrary. It is an act, a choice, a practice, a strategy of resistance and opposition that allows other forms of action and visibility.

 
 
 
 
Evil people are not the exception to this world.
They are the rule.
Grimm