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7/3/2005

Gerard Rondeau

Alliance Francaise de Singapour, Singapore

Gerard Rondeau

French Museums, Intimate Portraits. Sur Les Lieux Du Regard

Presented by Alliance Française de Singapour and the French Embassy, we are proud to introduce French photographer Gérard Rondeau to Singapore.

This exhibition is part of the Francophone Festival, which the Alliance celebrates annually. We would like to promote the francophone spirit not only to the French-speaking communities here but also to the locals. Thus, we would need you help to make this exhibition and festival known to the public and hopefully a successful one.

“En apparence, ce lieu est simple; il est de pure réciprocité: nous regardons un tableau d’où un peintre à son tour nous contemple. Rien de plus qu’un face à face, que des yeux qui se surprennent, que des regards droits qui en se croisant se superposent. Et pourtant cette mince ligne de visibilité en retour enveloppe tout un réseau complexe d’incertitudes, d’échanges et d’esquives. Le peintre ne dirige les yeux vers nous que dans la mesure où nous nous trouvons à la place de son motif. Nous autres, spectateurs, nous sommes en sus.”

“Apparently, it is a simple place; it is pure reciprocity: we look at a painting from which a painter contemplates us in his turn. Nothing more than a face-to-face, than eyes which meet, level gazes which cross and are superimposed. And yet this thin line of visibility in return encompasses an entire complex network of uncertainty, exchange and evasiveness. The painter only looks at us because we are standing where his subject would have been. We spectators are superfluous.”

Michel Foucault, Les mots et les choses, 1966

Exploring the relationship between masterpieces and its audience, specifically in museums, French photographer Gérard Rondeau takes on the subject of ‘museum phobia’. In his photographs, one can see how the viewer comfortably slips into thoughts, yet being in the museum’s awkward space. All these, as well as what goes on behind the display of precision.

There is a visual trip in Gérard Rondeau’s pictures – the presence of art works, which are powerfully suggestive and symbolic, creates an internal reference which diverts attention from the reality of the photograph. The strange relationship between the art works and the people near them is perceived so intensely that it overshadows the other relationship, which exists between the photographer and the scene that he has just created. The living people seem to be more alive because they are confronted with paintings and sculptures, and we completely lose sight of the photograph. The detour through the representation of art works in their context – when we are used to seeing them reproduced on their own, separated from everything else, even their frames or plinths, in an almost transcendent state – thus paradoxically produces a strange effect of naturalness in the rending of life going on around them.

Note to Editor:

Gérard Rondeau will be in Singapore for the media conference and grand opening of French Museums, Intimate Portraits, which will take place in the gallery on 8th March 2005, at 10am and 7pm respectively.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Gérard Rondeau is as much a reporter of lasting events as a portraitist of the ephemeral. He gives time to what is fleeting and squanders whole centuries, seizes moments of stone, sculpts destinies. He does without scenery and has few actors, even in the theatre. He prefers the wings to the stage, rehearsals to performances, worksites to inaugural ceremonies. His images refuse to be masked: they seek to go beyond mere statement. To be on the side of pure revelation which measures the weight of the elements and the truth of beings. His black-and-white world is a prism without a spectacle, in search of a secret light, fearfulness, an ancient rumour.

From Scene de la vie tsigane, in 1982, to Maroc. Hommage à Delacroix, in 1999, Gérard Rondeau has assembled stories, traced past events through the Chemin des Dames, Romania, cafés in New York, Rheims and Rome, and in Capitales oubliées, Vilnius, Riga, Tallin or Sarajevo. He has published with Yves Gibeau, Jean Vautrin, Jean Rolin, Danièle Sallenave, and Bernard Noël, Bernard Frank. He has produced series of photos for the newspaper Le Monde, and worked with the agency VU.

ABOUT FRANCOPHONE FESTIVAL 2005

Throughout the world each year, 51 countries sharing the French language and culture come together to celebrate their common heritage. FrancoFun!, is the annual festival in Singapore celebrating this shared heritage and the cultural diversity of the French-speaking world through dance, music, art, film and literature. The festival will be on from March 1 to April 15 2005 and will feature performances, exhibitions, talks and film screenings as well as games and competitions for students learning French. The festival will also include world famous names such as the prestigious, Ballet Preljocaj, from France and African Artist of the Century, Youssou N’Dour, from Senegal. These events will take place at various venues such as the Esplanade and the Alliance Francaise de Singapour.

Ballet Preljocaj will be performing their contemporary repertoire title, The Asian Premiere Near Life Experience at the Esplanade Theatre on March 1 & 2, 2005. The company, comprising of 24 dancers, was founded by Angelin Preljocaj and is resolutely committed to contemporary dance. Youssou N’Dour will be performing together with one of Africa’s top bands, Super Etoile, for the first time in Singapore for a one night only concert at the Esplanade Concert Hall on March 18, 2005. Youssou N’Dour’s collaborations with Peter Gabriel, Sting and Bruce Springsteen have brought him global attention and won him an international fan base.

In addition to these performances is an exhibition of photographs which takes a rare behind-the-scenes look at French museums. Titled French Museums, Intimate Portraits, the exhibition features black & white photographs by French photographer Gérard Rondeau and will be on at the SG Private Banking Gallery, Alliance Française from March 9 to April 2, 2005.

Included in the festival are film screenings to be held at the Alliance Française de Singapour. These include the first ever Singapore screening of Jacques Tati’s ‘Playtime’, two films by Chinese/French director Dai Sijie, ‘The Eleventh Child’ and ‘Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise’ as well as ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ directed by Frank Coraci and featuring Jackie Chan.

FrancoFun 05 – Festival of French-Speaking Countries will be on from March 1 to April 15 2005. All events are ticketed unless otherwise stated. Festival tickets are available through all SISTIC outlets.

Media Conference: 8 March 2005, Tuesday, 10am, in the gallery.

Opening: 8 March 2005, Tuesday, 7pm

SG Private Banking Gallery
Alliance Francaise de Singapour, 4th Floor
1 Sarkies Road, Singapore
Public Viewing : Monday to Friday, 11am – 7pm; Saturday, 11am – 5pm; and closed on Sundays and Public Holidays.
Admission: Free

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