No Ghost Just A Shell
dal 30/11/2002 al 19/1/2003
Segnalato da
30/11/2002
No Ghost Just A Shell
Institute of Visual Culture, Cambridge
A multiplication of the same as a form of difference. 'No Ghost Just A Shell' was initiated when French artists and frequent collaborators Philippe Parreno (1964, Paris) and Pierre Huyghe (1962, Paris) purchased the copyright for 'Annlee', an animated figure originally designed by Kworks, a Manga agency in Tokyo.
'No Ghost Just A Shell' was initiated when French
artists and frequent collaborators Philippe Parreno
(1964, Paris) and Pierre Huyghe (1962, Paris)
purchased the copyright for 'Annlee', an animated
figure originally designed by Kworks, a Manga agency
in Tokyo. Such 'digital actors' are available for
purchase by anyone, from comics producers to
advertisers. Unlike more expensive Manga figures,
whose complex character traits command higher price
tags, Annlee was initially designed without any
psychological background, personal history, specific
characteristics, attitudes or abilities. She could
exist in any kind of story, but with no chance of
surviving any of them. As a digital 'extra', her
predetermined destiny was to fade away quickly or
simply perish after a few minutes of film or a couple
of comic book pages. By purchasing the copyright to
this cybernetic ghost, Parreno and Huyghe rescued her
from an industry that eventually would have condemned
her to death.
'No Ghost Just A Shell' proposes scenarios in which
Annlee is liberated from ownership and allowed the
chance to resolve the ambiguities of her fate. Over
the last year Parreno and Huyghe have invited the
artists Henri Barande (Switzerland), Francois Curlet
(1967, Paris), Liam Gillick (1964, London and New
York), Dominique Gonzales-Foerster (1965, Paris),
Pierre Joseph (1965, Nice) with Mehdi Belhaj-Kacem,
M/M Paris (founded 1991, Mathias Augustyniak, 1967,
and Michael Amzalag, 1968), Melik Ohanian (1969,
Paris), Joe Scanlan (1961, Connecticut), Rirkrit
Tiravanija (1961, New York), and Anna-Léna Vaney
(1970, Paris) to appropriate the character free of
charge, and to reinvent her life. Each artist has
shaped a new chapter in Annlee's history, complicating
her status as a 'deviant sign'. The results include
video animations, paintings, posters, books, neon
works, fragrance works, and sculptures.
Institute of Visual Culture will present several of
these projects together for the first time in Britain.
After the exhibition's run in Cambridge, Kunsthalle
Zurich, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Annlee
will be assigned a contract transferring all copyright
and exploitation rights to her, thus preventing any
artists from initiating future projects with the
character. An IKEA coffin, designed for Annlee by Joe
Scanlan, will be presented as well as the contract
liberating her from circulation. What form her
identity will take thereafter, and how it will be
disseminated, remain ambiguous.
'No Ghost Just A Shell' presents a multiplication of
the same as a form of difference. Parreno and Huyghe
have initiated not only a series of artworks, but a
network of relationships and alliances that play with
the traditional logic of production, distribution,
exhibition and reception. Annlee is the phantom of a
cyber-commodity. Her software status calls into
question the very nature of ownership, authorship,
copyright and autonomy
'No Ghost Just A Shell' has been co-produced by
Institute of Visual Culture, Cambridge,
Kunsthalle, Zurich, and San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art. The exhibition will be
accompanied by a reader (£30, 304 pages, hardcover)
that will include texts by Jean-Claude
Ameisen, Kathryn Davis, Liam Gillick, Douglas Gordon,
Scott Lash, Maurizio Lazaratto, Molly
Nesbitt, Maurice Pianzola, Israel Rosenfield, Luc
Saucier, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Jan
Verwoert and will be published and distributed
internationally by Walther König, Cologne.
Institute of Visual Culture has commissioned Joe
Scanlan to contribute to this project.
'No Ghost Just A Shell' is generously supported by the
Arts Council of England National
Touring Programme. Institute of Visual Culture is
supported by East England Arts, Cambridge
City Council, and the Regional Arts Lottery Programme.
opening Sunday, 1 December 2002, 14.30-17.00
Exhibition opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm
and Sundays, 14.15-17.00.
Closed Mondays. Please note, Institute of Visual
Culture will be closed 23 December 2002-3 January
2003.
Institute of Visual Culture is easily accessible from
London. Trains to Cambridge leave from Kings Cross and
take only 45 minutes.
For further information please contact Stuart Comer on
+44(0) 1223 350 533
or stuartcomer@yahoo.com.
Institute of Visual Culture
Fitzwilliam Museum
Trumpington Street
Cambridge CB2 1RB
Telephone +44(0) 1223 350 533
Facsimile +44(0) 1223 312 188