Artist: Sturtevant
Exhibition title: ça va aller
Venue: Air de Paris, Paris, France
Date: January 12 – March 14, 2020
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Air de Paris
The two Zidane films will be shown back to back at the entrance to the exhibition at Air de Paris. Next come six works planned for six flat screens scattered around a single room. That way the hubbub of the images will be accentuated by the hubbub of sound.
Three of these videos «stammer» images from American television game shows and commercials, and point up the power of the dollar (whence the witty title The Greening of America).
The other three are very brief loops featuring soft toys and ridiculous little mechanical animals, edgy and garishly coloured. I Love Arlette, without doubt the most winsome and joyful of these works is a double-edged tribute to Arlette Laguiller, who got 5.72% of the vote at the French presidential election in 2007.
Each of these works – like their simultaneous presentation – offers a near-nauseating portrait of the mindless products of the entertainment industry and their derivatives. The slogan-like titles of the works and the name of the artist or the production house are overlaid like brands on the same plane as the images: the credits and the works intermingle seamlessly.
The exhibition comes with an intro by Elisa Schaar and tributes by Muzzey, Bruce Hainley, Anne Dressen and Stéphanie Moisdon.
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Sturtevant (1924, Lakewood, Ohio – 2014, Paris) was awarded the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011, and her pioneering work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including at The Abertina Museum, Wien (2015); Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (2015); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2014); Serpentine Galleries, London (2013); Kunsthalle, Zurich (2012); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2012); Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2010) and the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main (2004 and 2014).
STURTEVANT, Exhibition views « ça va aller », Air de Paris, Romainville, © Photo Marc Domage, Courtesy Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Exhibition views « ça va aller », Air de Paris, Romainville, © Photo Marc Domage, Courtesy Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Exhibition views « ça va aller », Air de Paris, Romainville, © Photo Marc Domage, Courtesy Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Exhibition views « ça va aller », Air de Paris, Romainville, © Photo Marc Domage, Courtesy Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Exhibition views « ça va aller », Air de Paris, Romainville, © Photo Marc Domage, Courtesy Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Exhibition views « ça va aller », Air de Paris, Romainville, © Photo Marc Domage, Courtesy Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Exhibition views « ça va aller », Air de Paris, Romainville, © Photo Marc Domage, Courtesy Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Exhibition views « ça va aller », Air de Paris, Romainville, © Photo Marc Domage, Courtesy Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Exhibition views « ça va aller », Air de Paris, Romainville, © Photo Marc Domage, Courtesy Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Exhibition views « ça va aller », Air de Paris, Romainville, © Photo Marc Domage, Courtesy Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Exhibition views « ça va aller », Air de Paris, Romainville, © Photo Marc Domage, Courtesy Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Shifting Mental Structures Millionaire / Money, 2000, video 16/9 (format original 4/3), moniteur, silencieux, 4 min. 02 sec. © Sturtevant Estate, Courtesy Sturtevant Estate / Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Cut & Run Porn Productions, 2006, vidéo 16/9, son 48 secondes, © Sturtevant Estate, Courtesy Sturtevant Estate / Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, The Greening Of America, 2000, video 16/9 (format original 4/3), moniteur, silencieux, 2 min. 04 sec. © Sturtevant Estate, Courtesy Sturtevant Estate / Air de Paris
STURTEVANT, Cut & Run Productions Chick Things, 2006, video 16/9 (format original 4/3), moniteur, silencieux, 39 secondes, © Sturtevant Estate, Courtesy Sturtevant Estate / Air de Paris.