Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan + Adriana Garcia Galan
Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan
The Dutch artistic duo Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan use photography, writing, film and installations to explore political questions, ranging from the status of the artist to the economic consequences experienced by a country joining the European Union. They also carry out curatorial work. The artists consistently raise political questions about the institutionalisation, particularly of art, thereby linking ethics and aesthetics.
For their ambitious new project, shown here for the first time in France, the artists have travelled from Poland to Nigeria researching the cost of sugar in the world. Intrigued by the derisory price of European sugar outside Europe, they decided to reverse the flow of sugar by buying the European excess cheaply in Nigeria and shipping it back to Europe.
The result of this expedition, Monument en sucre [Monument of Sugar], is shown at the Palais de Tokyo with a 16mm film, sculptures made of sugar and a publication that follow the whole process of making the works.
Lonnie van Brummelen (1969) and Siebren de Haan (1966) Live and work in Amsterdam, currently in residence in Paris.
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Adriana Garcia Galan
Adriana Garcia Galan, a Colombian artist, has developed a body of work that is playful and political. She is particularly interested in the question of language and in the power of words, both the basis of any communication in modern society and tools of its construction. Multimedia, video, sound or performance, her works often require the participation of the public, placing her work in a permanent exchange.
"Programme de gouvernement" [Government Program] is a new work by Adriana Garcia Galan. With a perfectly blue sky as a background, two "beat boxers" recite the official agenda of Ségolène Royal and of Nicolas Sarkozy for the 2007 presidential elections. "Beat boxing" is an urban art whose characters are mostly part of the rap and hip hop cultures – cultures traditionally critical towards the political class. The political discourse is here transformed into rhythms and images generating a new point of view on power.
Adriana Garcia Galan (1977) lives and works in Paris.
Palais de Tokyo
13, Avenue du President Wilson - Paris