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1/11/2002

In/differences

Fri Art - Kunsthalle Fribourg, Fribourg

FRIBOURG ART SCENE

Opening Saturday 2 November at 5 p.m.

We might be tempted to see the name of the exhibition, "IN/DIFFERENCES", with its equanimity and gentle neutrality, as the expression of a specifically Swiss brand of patriotism. Such is not the case. The show's approach is primarily a plural one, and its theme allows us to distinguish links and breaks that could be reformulated to confront difference and antagonism.
This choice tends to highlight a social and political reality: our world, with its overwhelming daily information flux, sometimes makes it difficult to hone one's critical spirit and retain one's objectivity. This information pile-up seems to deaden individual and social behaviour, and puts a premium on such descriptive terms as total-global-worldwide. The unshakeable will to anchor the contemporary world in the era of "globalisation", meant to generate a "single world space", may lead us to adopt a unilateral and undifferentiated view. In his novel "Moby Dick", Herman Melville, one of the precursors of postmodernism, formulated a subtly critical view of our civilisation by establishing a metaphor for the conflict between an antagonistic world and our ever-increasing will to conquer it. This conflict assumed the shape of the frantic hunt for the white whale. The sea monster Moby Dick reflects a vision of the world that echoes the conflict between a despotic captain and a widely varied crew, harbinger of a direct democracy.

The artist's role in our society is as vital as ever. He investigates or perceives the faults in our system, the disparity between different forms of antagonism, and re-establishes the economy of many relations shaped by singular perceptions or experiences. The aim is not to tie these works down to an overly specific theme, or imprison them in the "ghetto" of a specific locality; the fundamental issue is to present a number of points of view by playing out their manifold differences.

In an updated reality, we discover the works of Nicolas Berset who paints a fresco of our daily life. With Gion Capeder, the reading and re-reading of words activates our senses and puts into doubt our mode of perception. Through their repetitive and automatic gestures, the works of Laurence Cotting give us "fuel for thought". As for Isabelle Krieg, she delicately combines genres and links origin to originality. The strong presence and humanity of Lauris Paulus' photographic portraits is based on a stringent analysis. Nicolas Savary's approach is similar - he restates a trace, a memory of a place, often by using a camera obscura. Didier Philipona assembles varied materials that he projects onto a wall, creating an unsuspected world and his own adaptation of Plato's cave. The installation of st-denis® questions the private and collective contentment and well-being of a society in search of absolute values. His work will also be exhibited in the display window of the Cafe Le XXe. Hugo Tendon has created an outstanding animation designed with a "self-generated" program. Finally, the PAC collective establishes a system of connotations, setting up platforms and sprawling networks that propose a number of activities. This ties in with the CAP presentation of Jürg Lehni and Uli Franke, two artists who create a demonic being named "Hector", both taunting and delighting in the world of robotics.

Fribourg curator Esther Maria Jungo was given carte blanche over the interventions in the public space. She invited German artists Wolfgang Winter and Berthold Hörbelt, who earned international recognition at such exhibitions as Muenster in 1997, the Venice Biennial in 1999 and the Liverpool Biennial in 2002. Entitled "Kastenhaus 1100.10: Is there anything between black and white?", this on site intervention is erected on the terrace of the Arcades in the heart of Fribourg. It consists of a pavilion of crates forming a translucent architectural structure painted black and white, the colours of Canton Fribourg.

A dance performance, directed and performed by Jeanne Macheret and Jean-Nicolas Dafflon, will be presented in Fri-Art during the opening of the exhibition on November 2 at 6.30 p.m., and on November 7 and 14 at 8.30 p.m.

The exhibition was co-sponsored by the Fribourg daily La Liberté and the Imprimerie St-Paul printworks,
with the collaboration of Antiglio SA and Whirlpool Paradise Sarl.

> November 3 through December 22, 2002 < opening Saturday 2 November at 5 p.m.

Opening hours : Tues.-Fri. 2-6 p.m.., Sat.-Sun.2-5 p.m., Thursday evenings 8-10 p.m.

Guided visits at 8 p.m. on Thursdays, November 14 and 21, and on request.

Next exhibition: "In between", February 8 through April 13, 2003. Opening Friday, February 7, at 7 p.m.


Fri-Art
Petites-Rames 22 Case postale 354 CH 1701, Fribourg

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