Arthur Fouray 2080

MMLXXX
Solo show
zwanzigquadratmeter
Berlin, Germany
21.05–18.06.2017

Special thanks to Éric Emery, Ascanio Cecco, Louis Ziéglé, Christophe de Rohan Chabot, Alfredo Aceto

2080 (MMLXXX) was my solo exhibition at zwanzigquadratmeter (ZQM) in Berlin, from 21 May to 18 June 2017. In the interview Eleonora Castagna published in Droste Effect on 9 June 2017, I called it 'more a curation than a solo show': each piece has a relationship to another artist or to specific works by other artists. The press release is the voice-over of the 1961 trailer for Last Year at Marienbad, which ends by asking the viewer to watch carefully: an object, a gesture, a decor. The wall painting #000fff (Natural Vision) (IFP), from the #000fff series, with #aaafff (existenz) re-enacts Grande Surface by IFP in chroma-key blue. #aaafff (existenz) has the size of one element of a Donald Judd stack; its unknown object, a piece of plastic washed up on a Normandy beach, lay on the floor beneath it. Opposite, nine fluorescent red Genkins hung as one piece, Genkins (Fluo) (3×3). The charcoal drawing A Brief History of Curating copies a still from Johnny Mnemonic, Robert Longo's film. The blue wall, the green pillows and the red Genkins pinpoint three subjects: the projection, the interface and the viewer. The pillows covering the floor were silkscreened with pages of SCREEN, the catalogue of Spectre and the guide to 2080; I launched the book at Motto Berlin on 18 May. I wanted ruins on the floor. The title was meant to be read before the show: a year, a projection. Louis Ziéglé made the poster after blockbuster posters, with the works as its characters.

Press Release

Last Year at Marienbad
Trailer voice-over
1961
Text excerpt

A large international hotel …
… immense and baroque …
… with sumptuous but frigid decor
A stranger wanders from hall to hall …
… down endless corridors …
… in search of a woman
He tells her they met …
‘Last year …’
Try to remember,
… that they had a passionate love affair …
… that she herself set this rendezvous …
… and that he is going to take her away.
But she claims she does not know him.
Impossible, I tell you. I have never even been to Frederiksbad.
He insists, but she protests even more.
What room? I have never been in any bedroom with you
You will not remember …
… because you are afraid
And you do not recognise this photo either?
The young woman cedes ground.
The stranger – serious, confident – gathers more and more proof.
Who is right? Who is lying?
Is he a mere seducer? A madman?
Or has he just confused two faces?
What really happened ‘last year’?
You, the viewer, must answer these questions.
Watch carefully:
… an object …
… a gesture …
… a decor …

Arthur Fouray, MMLXXX, MMLXXX (2080), zwanzigquadratmeter, Berlin, 2017

#aaafff (existenz)
2017
acrylic, blackout fabric, unknown object
69 × 61 × 15 cm
Courtesy of the artist

Arthur Fouray, MMLXXX, Genkins (Fluo) (3×3), 2017, acrylic, cotton duck, 220 × 185 × 15 cm

Genkins (Fluo) (3×3)
2017
acrylic, cotton duck
220 × 185 × 15 cm
Courtesy of the artist

A Brief History of Curating
2017
charcoal, Arches paper, cardboard
15 × 21 × 3 cm
Courtesy of the artist

Arthur Fouray, MMLXXX, MMLXXX (2080), zwanzigquadratmeter, Berlin, 2017

PRESS

Eleonora Castagna, Arthur Fouray's '2080’ at ZQM in Berlin, 2017 – Droste Effect Magazine, Interview, 9 June 2017 – drosteeffectmag.com · PDF