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With very best regards,

Marine Hugonnier

Bionnassay, Haute-Savoie, France

Marine HugonnierWorks

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COUNTERPRODUCTIVEECONOMIES

Tending to hinder or act against the achievement of an aim

TRAVAIL CONTRE PRODUCTIFBook/Box 22.5 x 31.3 x 3.5 cmOn going since 1996

TRAVAIL CONTRE PRODUCTIF was started in 1996 while working at the Photography Department of the Museum of Mankind in Paris. Mostly compiling notes for future works, this book also includes quotes and thoughts about subjects as diverse as anthropology, economy or art criticism which are all threads for possible modes of operation or methods of investigation. TCP works like a restraint where resistance to formalization is understood as a way to nurture all of these possibilities.

The artist could perhaps be a geographer, a tourist, a soldier, a worker, a pilgrim, a flaneur, an anthropologist, a journalist, a mad man... but none would resume what the artist is or does. In fact these points of view are the material of his study.

Sur la route du Col de la Bonnette (2802 m), 5 septembre 96, 19:50. X- Sais-tu ce que veut dire l’expression “travail contre-productif”? O- C’est un travail qui va à l’encontre de l’objectif attendu. On appelle ça “red tape’’ en anglais. Ce sont, par exemple, les démarches administratives qu’il faut faire pour créer une entreprise et qui en réalité entravent sa création. Ces démarches sont dites “contre-productives”. X- On parle donc de “démarches contre-productives”, mais peut-on dire cela d’un travail? 0- L’expression “travail contre-productif”est correcte malgré le paradoxe... X-Comment decrirais-tu un travail qui n’atteint pas son but, mais que l’on va quand même considérer comme un travail? O-Un travail qui n’atteint pas son but n’est pas pour autant stérile, car il peut servir à quelque chose. Par exemple, si une femme de chambre fait un lit à moitié, son travail n’atteint pas son but, il pourrait être dit “inutile”car cela ne sert à rien de commencer quelque chose sans le terminer; cependant, ce travail n’est pas complètement stérile car la chambre pourra paraître rangée malgré tout. Par nature, tout travail de recherche peut ne pas atteindre son but puisque toute recherche n’aboutit pas nécessairement à une découverte. Pourtant, aucune recherche n’est inutile puisque le travail d’aujourd’hui pourra éviter de refaire demain les mêmes expérimentations. X-Y a-t-il une expression pour désigner ce travail qui n’atteint pas son but mais qui produit quelque chose qui sera tout de même considéré comme un travail? O- Je sais que je n’ai pas encore répondu à ta question et je vois où tu veux en venir. Un travail peut devenir “contre-productif”lorsqu’un changement d’objectif intervient pendant son déroulement...par exemple, si l’on diffère un objectif pour le bienfait d’un travail. X- L’expression “travail contre-productif”désigne donc un travail qui n’est pas toujours inefficace. Dans certains cas ce changement d’objectif ou cette retenue, advenue pendant une recherche, peut être envisagée comme un progrès, les moyens de cette démarche devenant les fins de ce travail. Tu es d’accord? O- Oui, je suis d’accord. X- Peut-on aussi envisager qu’un “travail contre-productif”soit un travail qui refuse de produire quelque chose? O- Pourquoi pas? X- C’est-à-dire que la personne qui effectue ce travail refuse consciemment de produire quelque chose de quantifiable, le but du travail étant sa démarche, la distance à parcourir pour comprendre ce qu’impliquerait d’arriver à une fin, à une production... Que ce travail reste toujours en amont d’une réalisation possible. O-Le problème reste de savoir ce qui permet alors de parler de travail puisqu’il faut bien pour parler de travail qu’il y ait quelque chose d’effectué. La question reste alors de l’ordre de ce qui fait trace de ce travail et qui va le constituer. X-Ce qui fait trace et donc va devenir ce travail peut être quelque chose qui n’a rien à voir avec ce que le but du travail devait être en premier lieu...non? O-Donne-moi un exemple. X-Le but d’un travail serait de produire des objets mais alors que toutes les conditions sont réunies pour que ce travail soit un succès, il va échapper à la logique qui l’anime et ne devenir que le fait de réflechir à ce que ces objects devraient être sans qu’ils soient produits...

Art can be understood according to its historical production conditions. Mutual influence is exercised between a historical context and a work; they are indexed to one another, more or less impregnated with one another. This means that art history could provide a certain insight into the history of our civilisations, and cultural anthropology would be the only methodology able to formulate art criticism.

FLOWERFresh flowers, spray paint for flowers, vase, waterSpray paint Oasis floral product (5101/yellow, 5104/white)1998/2000

The work comprises a list of flowers which is reinterpreted each time according to the season, location and to the florist who arranges the bouquet. The bouquet should always be crisp and fresh. Each flower is painted with special florists’ spray paint, leaving a very thin coat of paint matching the colour of the flower. The colour of each flower is therefore slightly enhanced.

CANDLEWax, perfume20 x 1 cm1998 / 2000

This candle smells like a wick that has just been blown out.

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Wax and perfume: Cir Trudon, Paris

INTERLUDENeon, sequencer6 x 45 x 4 cm1997 / 1999

INTERLUDE is a neon sign of the word interlude which were inserts between programs on French television in the mid-50s to mid-60s. This word recalls specific interim moments and unproductive times.

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Neon and sequencer: Neon Circus, London

LEADER (OUKAIMEDEN, MAROCCO)Lambda print mounted on aluminium300 x 180 cm1999/2004

LEADER is one frame of a Super 16mm film shot at night in the mountains of Oukaimeden, Morocco.

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Shoot: Oukaimeden, High Atlas, Morocco, February 1996Camera: ARRIflex ST converted to Super 16mmStock: 7245 KodakLenses: 25mm, 50mm ZeissAspect ratio : 1:85Process: Cinedia, ParisPrint: Greiger, DusseldorfAluminium mount and frame: Bliss, London/ Darbyshire, LondonProducted by: Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland

IMPACT (21.05.99, 5:40)DVD installation with surround sound1’55’’1999

IMPACT is a short film about a staged car crash. Passers-by who were unaware of the set-up subsequently believed it was a real accident. The crash and people’s reactions were filmed in real time.

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Shoot: Orléans, France, May 1999Camera: Sony PD150Aspect ratio: 4:3Camera operator 1: Director of photography: Valérie Le GurunCamera operator 2: Etienne MespreuvesCamera operator 3: Benoit LabourdetteCamera operator 4: Franz Robert CibisCamera operator 5: Lieutenant RouchetCamera operator 6: Eric CastanetStuntman 1, 2, 3: Pascal Garnier, Christophe Rollin, Sandy QuirichonCoordination for stuntmen: Pascal Lopez, International StuntmenStills photographer: Fernando EtulainMachinery: Franz Robert CibisSound engineer: Marianne Schoendorff, Didier Leclercq, Fabrice GuerardiMachinist: Arnaud DesbuquoisCoordination: Eric CastanetTechnical adviser: Alain JeanneEditor: Jérome BétrancourtCommunication adviser: Olivier Buslot, Iréne ChomikiMayor’s adviser and deputy Mayor: Guy Civil, Henri BenozioThis event was produced by: La Mairie d’Orléans, FranceWith the participation of: la Police Nationale, la Police Municipale, les Pompiers de la ville d’Orléans, les Mutuelles Régionnales d’Assurances, les compagnies du 13 marsProduced by: Frac Languedoc-Roussillon Montpellier, France, Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains, France, Orléans City Hall, France and DRAC Nord Pas-de-Calais, France.

COLOR OF A MEMORY (PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, 1972)Orange offset print and photograph59,5 x 65,8 x 4,8 cm 1996 / 2003

A picture of the city of Pittsburgh where the artist grew up is printed on the front of the poster. The back is printed in orange. A small space is left between the orange back and the wall so the orange colour glows around the paper. The text hereafter is printed at the bottom of the poster.

«Since World War II, we have all used the same mass-produced color film to photograph the cherished moments of our lives. When we look at pictures taken in the 1970s, we can clearly see that they have a peculiar orange tinge, the result of a specific color balance. Later in the 1980’s one can see a redder tinge, and in the 1990s, a shift to more of a blue. In fact, the orange haze effect in the 1970s photographs is not only due to the process used, the development paper and the fact that they are now ageing, but also is the result of a marketing decision taken to match the aspirations of the moment, to represent that time frame.»

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Print: Atelier Seydoux, Paris

LE SOLEIL CONTINUAIT DE DOMINER LARGEMENT LE CIEL APRES DISSIPATION DE QUELQUES GRISAILLES EN DEBUT DE JOURNEE.

DES PASSAGES NUAGEUX PROVENANT DE L’ALLEMAGNE VENAIENT PERTURBER LE CIEL EN MILIEU DE JOURNEE.

LES TEMPERLES TEMPERATURES ETAIENT FRAICHES POUR LA SAISON.

TEMPERAMENTAL CLIMAT (FOR PIERRE HUYGHE)Weather forecast program for Pierre Huyghe’s MOBIL TV project1995

A short weather program was inserted into Pierre Huyghe’s Mobil TV channel at the Consortium, Dijon.

ANNA HANUSOVA (27.06.01, 5:40)Live radio broadcast and video projection with sound10’0’’2001

Camera Austria, the Austrian art magazine, asked the artist to contribute to an issue they were publishing in response to the October 1999 election and the rise of the extreme right political party. In June 2001, the artist invited Anna Hanusova, a 70-year-old Czech lady who made it out of Teresin concentration camp in 1943 where she was part of a music trio called Trio Room 28. She was invited to play a piece of piano that would be broadcast on the Austrian national radio, the radio ö1. The broadcast was live and nationwide. It took place at 5:40pm on the June 27th 2001. Anna Hanusova performed a piano piece of her choice : Für Alina by Arvo Part. As the live broadcast happened, a short film was made at the radio station.

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Shoot: Vienna, Austria June 2001Camera: Sony PD150Aspect ratio: 16:9Director of photography: Marine HugonnierEditor and sound: Marine HugonnierProduced by: Kerstin Engholm Galerie, Vienna, Austria and Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France

NO SHOWPlexiglass, neons, heat sensorsDimension variable1997 / 2002

The shape of the chandelier mirrors the institution’s floor plan. Heat sensors are installed in the room, detecting visitors moving about thus charging the batteries of the chandelier which would then be lit when the museum is closed.

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Design: FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier, FranceProduced by: FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier, France

THE TOURIST

THE SOLDIER

THE WORKER

THE PILGRIM

TOWARDS TOMORROW (INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE, ALASKA)Lambda prints mounted on aluminium300 x 180 cm 2001

TOWARDS TOMORROW is the result of a trip to the Bering Strait in Alaska, USA, to photograph across the International Date Line into Siberia. Due to its geographical position, Siberia is always 24 hours ahead of Alaska. The photographs are, therefore, in effect, pictures of a future moment.

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Shoot: Whales, Bering Strait, Alaska, September 2001Camera: Linhof 8 x 10 Kardan GTStock: 160NC Portra KodakLens: 360mm SchneiderAssistant: Steve SchauerExecutive producer: Julie GonssardProcess: Color Edge, New York / Metro, LondonPrint: Greiger, Dusseldorf or Metro Pictures LondonAluminium mount and frame: Bliss, London / Darbyshire, London

ARIANASuper 16mm film transferred onto DVD with sound18’36’’2003

ARIANA tells the story of a film crew that sets out to visit the Pandjsher Valley in Northern Afghanistan. Described in classic Persian poetry as a “paradise garden,” the impenetrable nature of the valley and its lush, fertile landscape have set it apart from the rest of the country and encouraged a history of independence and resistance. The film considers how the specificities of a landscape help to determine its history. As the crew is unable to film the valley from a vantage point in the surrounding Hindu Kush mountains, the film becomes the story of a failed project that prompts a process of reflection on the “panorama” as a form of military strategic overview, as a cinematic camera movement, and its origins as a pre-cinematic mass entertainment.

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Shoot: Pandjsher Valley and Kabul, Afghanistan, August and October 2002Camera: ARRI SR3Stock: 7245, 7246, 7289 KodakLenses: 9 mm, 12 mm, 16 mm, 25mm & 50mm Zeiss Primes, 10 -100mm Canon ZoomAspect ratio: 1:85Director of photography: Tom TownendEditor: Ida BregningeSound: Aurélien BrasExecutive producers: Julie GonssardProcess: Éclair, Joinville, FranceGrade: One Post, London, UKPost Production: Frontline Television, London, UKProduced by: Max Wigram Gallery and Film and Video Umbrella in association with Chisenhale Gallery, LondonSupported by: the National Touring Programme of Arts Council, UK, Marion and Guy Naggar, Alan Djanogly

English transcription of Ariana’s French voice-over

It’s about a country, Ariana, in which landscape has allowed its history to happen.This landscape is never to be seen simply as decor or background. In this country mountains have no name. You cannot tell them apart, unless you group them together. During the war, battles were fought to secure vantage points offering panoramas. This was the way to control the country. Planes had to be destroyed.We have been in the country for three weeks now. Our journey has not achieved its goal. The way we looked at how the landscape let its history happen, has made us question our point of view. We have had some problems, as often happens in faraway countries. Our car broke down a couple of times and the crew is smaller than planned. Those remaining are the anthropologist, the geographer, the cameraman, the sound engineer, and the local guide. It is the end of summer. It is hot and dry.We traveled up north to a valley that was the stronghold of resistance during 23 years of war. Neither of the two revolutionary utopias that had ruined the country had ever entered this place. Even today, it remains a state within a state. It is still difficult to reach, protected by its mountains and those who fought for it. We wanted to get to the best viewpoint, to see at a glance how this landscape made the history of the valley possible. As we were about to go, we were told that a landslide had made it inaccessible. We wouldn’t be able to shoot the panorama.An image would be missing. The one we would make of the valley would remain incomplete. We felt low. Aimless. And for a couple of days we became nothing more than tourists.

(Distant explosions)

In spite of this calm, we sensed there was still the possibility of an uprising.In the light of coming battles, the landscape took on a strategic aspect.Every contour of the land, pass and gorge, every shadow of a rock, lookout, and footpath was seen as a potential shelter, a hiding place, or a line of approach to be hidden from enemy eyes. Each specific feature, hollow, mound, and viewpoint was thought of as a zone to control, a forward position to hold, a place to fall back to.

And if the best point of view was not accessible to us, was it because it was also a strategic point? As our camera was panning 360 degrees, we realized that this panoramic shot was itself a means of control. We decided to leave the next day. The night before we left, we were invited to a film screening. All throughout our trip back to the city, our guide told us about his country, his hopes, while promises of past ideologies filled the landscape. We grew up insulated by liberalism. We have no political ideology anymore. No project.Utopias are only a legacy. We have nothing left to hope for from them. In town we felt lost, disoriented. The ideologies that shook the 20th century, even the one that recently “liberated” the country, could be read here simultaneously. The city was an assembly of those traces, all of them scattered in fragments.The continuity of this shot, this panorama, seemed to erase those fragments.It made the cityscape homogeneous as opposed to this urban reality, as if the idea of discontinuity, or of a revolution, was impossible.This panoramic shot, which appeared to us in the valley as a means of control, couldn’t it also become a tool of propaganda? We still felt the need to get to a high viewpoint. We obtained authorization from the Ministry of Culture to go to the “télévision hill” which overlooked the city. This point of view would finally allow us to see at a glance the paths we had taken, and the ones we would take next, full of hopes and desires. After all, doesn’t a high point of view allow the possibility of projecting a future into space? Wasn’t it also the sweet memory of the tourist attraction that wasn’t to be missed on holidays when we were children? We were accompanied by a soldier.At last, from the top of the “television hill,”we caught sight of all the surrounding landscape. We could see, with surprising clarity, the tangle of trees and thousands of houses with their gardens, so tiny. We saw the beginning of the desert, and the mountain range that seemed to protect the city. The soldier showed us the battlefields; the strategic places that had allowed it to be controlled. The entire landscape was like a still image, a painting. This spectacle made us euphoric and gave a feeling of totality. The Afghan soldier smiled and stood proudly in front of the view. We gave up filming.

MOUNTAIN WITH NO NAME (PANDJSHER VALLEY, AFGHANISTAN)Lambda print mounted on aluminium58 x 74 cm2003

MOUNTAIN WITH NO NAME is a group of portraits of the mountains that surround the Pandjsher Valley in the North East of Afghanistan. These mountains have never been named: they remain blank areas on the map where only the paths are given names by local inhabitants. Their anonymity runs counter to the Western tradition by which every mountain is named, a practice that coincided with European imperialism and the expansion of the colonies. The mountains surrounding the Pandjsher Valley exist outside this history.

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Shoot: Pandjsher Valley and Kabul, Afghanistan, August 2002Camera: 6 x 7 Mamiya RZStock: 160 NC Portra KodakLens: 110 mm MamiyaProcess: Metro Pictures, LondonAluminium mount: Bliss, LondonFrame: Darbyshire, London

THE LAST TOURSuper 16mm film transferred onto DVD with sound14’17’’2004

THE LAST TOUR’s fictional action is set at the end of the Age of Spectacle, at a time when tourist attractions are about to be completely closed off to the public. The viewer embarks on a “last tour”; a hot-air balloon flight over the famous, iconic Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. The film suggests the possibility of a blank space reappearing on the map, a reference to the world before the Era of Discovery.

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Shoot: Zermatt and its surroundings, Switzerland, February 2004 Disneyland, Los Angeles, November 2003Camera: Aaton A-minimaStock: 7218, 7274 KodakLenses: 9.5mm, 12mm, 16mm, 25mm & 50mm Zeiss Primes, 10 -100mm Canon Zoom, 5.7mm KinopticAspect ratio: 1:85Director of photography: Tom TownendEditor: Ida BregningeSound: Cristian ManzuttoMusic: Sébastien RouxExecutive producers: Renaud Sabari / APC, Paris, FranceProcess: Cinedia, Paris, FranceGrade: Transat, Paris, FrancePost production: Transatlantic Vidéo, Paris, FranceProduced by: Galerie Judin, Zurich, Switzerland, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland, Villa Medicis Hors les Murs, Paris, France

Transcription of the insert titles in The Last Tour

This is about a time where natural sites are so regulated by protective laws, with limited visitor access and restricted views points, that they are becoming almost invisible. The action of this film is set in the near future where these tourist sites are about to come to a complete closure.

THE LAST TOUR

You are sleeping in the back of a car.You have a ticket for the Last Tour around the Matterhorn and it’s National Park.Your mind is drifting.You are wondering about what the park will be like when it closes.What you foresee is what you know from the past, but your approach is to follow the foot prints of the near future without nostalgia.Can you relate to the closure of the park at all,when everything is accessible in the world you live in?The closure of the park is putting a ‘blank space back’ on the map.Could this be the return of THE NEW WORLD?As you gaze at the panorama and the Matterhorn you cannot help but map postcard images that you remember onto what you see.And you would like the experience to be even more synthetic.You feel like an explorer on a ready made expedition.You proudly pretend to be the last where once you were led to believe you were the first.

EPILOGUE

(The film crew, Zermatt, Switzerland, Feb.19th 2004, 23:05)By the end of the 20th century fireflies had disappeared in Europe.Ideologies as a form of commitment, as well.Lately, fireflies have been seen around the park again.

LUCIOLESPhosphorescent print on London Alpine Club letterhead21 x 29.7 cm2004

LUCIOLES are images printed with phosphorescent ink onto The London Alpine Club letterhead. The phosphorescent images only glow at night.

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Prints: Atelier Seydoux, Paris

TRAVELLING AMAZONIASuper 16mm film transferred onto DVD with sound23’52’’2006

TRAVELLING AMAZONIA was shot on the Transamazonia road, a 6,000-mile-long highway cutting through Amazonia’s vast forest. The construction of the Transamazonia generated an industry around the extraction of natural resources like metal, wood, and rubber. In this film, these materials are used to build a dolly and tracks to realize a “travelling shot” upon the very same road. Through the making of this “travelling shot” that recalls the illusions behind the idealism embedded in the Transamazonia’s project, the film addresses the processes and the pioneering ideas, that prevailed in this ultimate colonialist project realized during the “heyday” of Brazil’s aspiration to become “the country of the future.”

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Shoot: In Itaituba on the Transamazonian Highway, Amazonas, Brazil, August 2005Camera: Aaton XTR +Stock: 7218, 7274 KodakLense: 12-120mm Canon ZoomAspect ratio: 1:85Director of photography: Roberto Thome De Oliviera FilhoEditor: Helle Le FèvreSound: Cristian ManzuttoFirst Assistant: Diana BaldonExecutive Producers: Amanda Rodrigues Alves and Thomas MulcaireProcess: Casablanca, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilGrade: Diamond, London, UKPost production: Frontline Television, London, UKWith: Anonymous teenagers, Antonio Jose de Perez, Marcio Mello, Orlando PortelaPereira, Jose Rigonato Pereira da Silva, Jose Francisco Marcelino, Antonio Gonçalves Lima, Francisco Clesio, Jose Matias Souza, Adeilton Vieira da Conceiçao, Paulo Roberto AgraProduced by: Arts Council England, Max Wigram Gallery London, UK, Martha Hummer Bradley and Nogueras Blanchard, Barcelona, Spain

It’s so vast and famous throughout the world… but reality is a beast.The Transamazonia doesn’t exist, it is just a lot of holes.Only holes? Yes, holes.This is kilometer 1665.Transamazonia… funny word!Transamazonia.The Forest is most lively at six in the morning.It’s very noisy. The daybreak makes the birds happy.The silence fades away, and the Forest becomes much more agitated.Everything is synchronised.When I am in the Forest I see… lots of animals like wild boar, deer, monkeys, tortoises, pumas and all sorts.One night I was waiting for… I was hunting a paca, a kind of deer.When I heard breathing… coming from behind a tree.I shone the torch at it but there was nothing there… just leaves shaking.I think it was something… beyond imagination.My father says he has seen it many times, so I believe something lies in the Forest.People say…it is our spirit.In a clearing I saw a woman with long white hair.She was floating in the air…I didn’t see her face, only her hair.The Transamazonia takes the colonial project that was Brazil, deeper inland.It draws a straight line across a territory like the first thread of a grid.This line projects an illusion of pioneering.This is the feeling that brought people here.

Transcription of the voice-over in Travelling Amazonia

A road… a federal road that would connect east to west, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.The purpose of this road was to unite men without land to a land without men.Its construction offered work in abundance and people came for the adventure.The Transamazonia was the greatest project of the military dictatorship.The road was the means by which to conquer an uncharted territory:Amazonia, also known as “The Land with No End”.In the 1970s the construction of the Transamazonia generated industries along the way: the extraction of rubber, wood and metal.These materials are used here to make a dolly for the travelling shot in this film.I am the guy who washes the plane.The plane is used to service the mines.It takes people to work out there and brings them supplies…because they are very isolated.What does the Transamazonia look like from a plane?A broken line… it appears and disappears.I don’t know where it ends! What is your name?Jose Rigonato Pereira da Silva, but people call me Gordo.I am known as Gordo from the Zezao farm.Do you travel on the Transamazonia? Yes, I do.We are only missing a government that will make it.It exists on the map but not in reality.On the map it’s been made more than five times!The road is only a project… really.For the people who live here, the Transamazonia doesn’t exist.It’s just a lot of holes.Everybody knows about the Forest.

WEDNESDAY (MONTE PASCOAL, BRAZIL)Lambda prints mounted on aluminium54 x 74 cm2006

WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY were shot at the exact point where the Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral first saw main land on Wednesday April 22, 1500. Following the new route to the Indies, Cabral was driven by a hurricane to the coast where he spotted Monte Pascoal, thus discovering Brazil by chance. He first sighted the shore at dusk (Wednesday evening) but had to wait for the early hours of the next morning (Thursday morning) to confirm what he had seen.

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Shot: Off the coast of Monte Pascoal National Park, Bahia, Brazil, 2006Camera: Walken Tinten 4 x 5Stock: 160 NC Portra KodakLens: 150 mm ZeissAssistant: Cristian Manzutto, Diana BaldonExecutive producers: Amanda Rodrigues Alves, Thomas MulcaireProcess: Metro, LondonPrint: Greiger, DusseldorfAluminium mount and frame: Bliss, London, Darbyshire, London

THURSDAY (MONTE PASCOAL, BRAZIL)Lambda prints mounted on aluminium54 x 74 cm 2006

BEACH OF THE NEW WORLD (MONTE PASCOAL, BRAZIL)Lambda prints mounted on aluminium58 x 74 cm2006

BEACH OF THE NEW WORLD (Monte Pascoal, Brazil) was shot on the beach where Pedro Cabral accosted on Thursday April 23, 1500. These two works allude to those few hours when the ideals, beliefs and made-up imagery of "The New World" made their lasting entry into the Western psyche. ___

Shoot: Off the coast of Monte Pascoal National Park, Bahia, BrazilCamera: Walken Tinten 4 x 5Stock: 160 NC Portra KodakLens: 150 mm ZeissAssistant: Cristian Manzutto, Diana BaldonExecutive producers: Amanda Rodrigues Alves, Thomas MulcaireProcess: Metro, LondonPrint: Greiger, DusseldorfAluminium mount and frame: Bliss, London, Darbyshire, London

TERRITORY I, II, III16mm color with sound3 part film23’50’’2004

A group show called “Territories” organised by Anselm Frankle, Eyal Weizman, Rafi Segal and Stefano Boeri travelled to Sweden (Malmo, Kunsthalle/ May 2004), to Germany (Berlin, Kunstwerke/ July 2004) and to Israel (Tel Aviv Bezalel Fondation/Nov 2004). The third venue in Tel Aviv included a week long series of events; lectures by local and international practitioners, debates and screening in various locations across both side of the frontier of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This series of events attempted to narrate political and strategic issues through the physical relics of the occupation. Architecture was described as the physical embodiment of the conflict where landscape and its mapping are used to serve ideological purposes. A bus tour was also organised around the West Bank and in Palestine. This “journey through a physical reality” was the true core of the exhibition. MH decided to take a camera and follow what was going to happen. Territory I, II, III is a three-part film. This film is the result of this exhibition.

Next page:TERRITORY I

TERRITORY I (WHITE LIES) is named after a text by Sharon Rotbard. This film looks at the way Tel Aviv wants to see itself, a modernist heritage city in the Bauhaus style, the so-called “White city”. In 2003, UNESCO’s acceptance of this image reveals the way an urban myth can enter a collective belief system and how a city changes with the rewriting of its historiography.

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Shoot: Tel Aviv Israel, West Bank Jerusalem, Ramallah Palestine, November 2004Stock: 7231- 7222 KodakCamera: Éclair ACLAspect ratio: 1:66Lenses: 12.120mm zoom, 17.85mm zoomDirector of photography: Nadav Arowitz, Marine Hugonnier, Cristian ManzuttoExecutive production: Alec Steadman, Del Ruby WinterEditing: Helle Le Fèvre

TERRITORY II (THE KISSING POINT)’s text is a collaboration with Eyal Weizman. The film was made during a bus tour organised around the west bank. Its focus is the situation between Har Homa (which means “mountain of the wall” in Hebrew) and Sur Baher, which is a Palestinian town. The film observes the complexity of the geography of the conflict, reflected through the settler’s and Palestinian town’s architecture. It reveals how the landscape is constructed to embrace political ends. How a logic of appropriation manifests itself when traditional Arab architecture inspires settler’s builders and Palestinian towns in turn mimic modernist architecture.

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Shoot: Tel Aviv Israel, West Bank Jerusalem, Ramallah Palestine, November 2004Stock: 7231- 7222 KodakCamera: Éclair ACLAspect ratio: 1:66Lenses: 12.120mm zoom, 17.85mm zoomDirector of photography: Nadav Arowitz, Marine Hugonnier, Cristian ManzuttoExecutive production: Alec Steadman, Del Ruby WinterEditing: Helle Le FèvreProduced by: Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK

TERRITORY III (ALKDEREH HOUSE, RAMALLAH) was filmed during a walk through the Alkdereh district of Ramallah in Palestine. This house built in 1865 is one of the oldest in town. It was a community centre for many years before it closed two years ago. The flat roof, high ceilings, thick walls, and horseshoe-arched windows are the main characteristics of traditional Arab style.

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Shoot: Tel Aviv Israel, West Bank Jerusalem, Ramallah Palestine, November 2004Stock: 7231- 7222 KodakCamera: Éclair ACLAspect ratio: 1:66Lenses: 12.120mm zoom, 17.85mm zoomDirector of photography: Nadav Arowitz, Marine Hugonnier, Cristian ManzuttoExecutive production: Alec Steadman, Del Ruby WinterEditing: Helle Le FèvreProduced by: Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK

ABSTRACT (DEAD SEA, ISRAEL / THE SPIRAL JETTY, UTAH)2 Polaroids10.8 x 8.5 cm2005

ABSTRACT is a set of two or more images that works like a collage. Their aim is to merge spaces to create new ones.

ABSTRACT (DEAD SEA, ISRAEL / BLACK SEA, TURKEY / AEGEAN SEA, GREECE / CASPIAN SEA, RUSSIA)4 Polaroids10.8 x 8,5 cm2005

ITCZ (21°17’51.78”N / 89°35’28.18”O / 26-04-08 / 09:00 am) Lambda print mounted on aluminium 54 x 74 cm2008

ITCZ is a series of photographs of the International Tropical Convergence Zone. The ITCZ is an area of convergence between the tropical winds of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, circling the Earth around the equator. The annual rhythm of this band of intense heat and humidity gives rise to cumulous cloud formations and perpetual thunderstorms. This region has historically been associated with sensual evocations of geography.

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Shot: Yucatan, Mexico, April 2008Camera: Walken Tinten 4 x 5“Stock: 160 NC Portra KodakLens: 150 mm ZeissProcess: Metro, LondonPrint: Greiger, DüsseldorfAluminium mont and frame: Bliss London, Darbyshire London

ITCZ (21°17’51.78”N / 89°35’28.18”O / 28-04-08 / 04:23 am) Lambda print mounted on aluminium 54 x 74 cm2008

ITCZ (21°17’51.78”N / 89°35’28.18”O / 28-04-08 / 04:48 am) Lambda print mounted on aluminium 54 x 74 cm2008

FOUNTAIN (WITH PIERRE HUYGHE)1996-2014

Work in progress

Two lovers and a light show would accompany this temperamental fountain.

THE FLANEUR

THE JOURNALIST

THE ANTHROPOLOGIST

THE MADMAN

DEATH OF AN ICONColour 16mm with sound7’49’’2005

DEATH OF AN ICON was filmed just before Yasser Arafat’s death. It’s a quiet gaze of that moment in Ramallah, Palestine. The film covers the situation minutes before the official announcement of this political event.

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Shoot: Ramallah Palestine November 10th and 11th 2004Camera: Éclair ACLStock: 7245, 7277 KodakLenses: 25mm, 50mm, 75mm primes, 12.120 mm zoom Aspect ratio: 1:66 Director of photography: Marine Hugonnier, Cristian ManzuttoEditor: Helle Le FèvreSound: Cristian ManzuttoExecutive producers: Alec Steadman, Del Ruby WintersProcess and print: Soho Images LondonGrade: Soho Images, LondonProjector: Elf

ART FOR MODERN ARCHITECTUREDie Welt: Building the Berlin Wall (August 14 15 17 25 1961) /Fall of the Berlin Wall (November 10 12 Nov 1989)Paper clips onto vintage newspapers front pages2009

Art for Modern Architecture is a series of collages on vintage newspapers featuring silkscreened colour blocks covering all the images of the front page. The colours are from the standard Kodak color chart: blue, cyan, green, yellow, red, magenta and black. They are the reference colours used in photomechanical reproduction. Thus a potential image is formalized, calling upon the viewer’s memory and a collective consciousness. This principal of “coverage” therefore investigates the reality of the spectator’s memory, whether it is a cultural ground or an imaginary landscape.

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Paper restorers: Valéria Duplat, Ségolène Walle, Marion Chamoral

ART FOR MODERN ARCHITECTUREThe New York Times: Men walk on moon (July 21 1969) Paper clips onto vintage newspapers front pages2010

ART FOR MODERN ARCHITECTUREThe Guardian: Munich Olympics hostages (September 6 1972)London and Manchester editions Paper clips onto vintage newspapers front pages2010

ART FOR MODERN ARCHITECTURENew York Times: The Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis (January 1 1979, February 11, 13 1979, November 6, 7, 13, 14, 16, 18, 23, 26, 29, 30 1979, December 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 16 1979, April 8 1980, July 28 1980, January 19, 20, 21 1981)Kayhan: The Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis (February 1, 5, 8, 10, 12 1979, March 27 1979, April 1 1979, November 4, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15, 19, 20 1979, December 3, 31 1979, February 10 1980, October 26 1980, December 27 1980, January 20, 21 1981)Paper clips onto 48 vintage newspapers front pages2010

___ Next page: New York Times (November 6, 13, 1979)Kayhan (November 6, 13, 1979)

ART FOR MODERN ARCHITECTUREMundo Diario: Death of Franco (November 20 1975)Paper clips onto vintage newspapers front pages2011

ART FOR MODERN ARCHITECTUREThe New York Times : U.S. Attacked (September 12 2001)Paper clips onto vintage newspapers front pages2010

LES ACTUALITES (Week of March 31 to April 6 2008) Newspaper cut-outs and collages60 x 50 cm2008

News images spreading over the course of a week are assembled in a diaristic record. Each image is combined with a collage. The work’s title means ‘newsreels’ and is paradoxical seeing that in some cases the images refer to past events such as the student demonstrations in Paris in May 1968. The title of this work is in remembrance of the pre- and post-war 16mm French news films. This work is a part of a longer series spreading over twelve weeks.

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Paper restorer: Valéria Duplat

THE SECRETARY OF THE INVISIBLESuper16mm film transferred onto DVD with sound21’49’’ 2007

THE SECRETARY OF THE INVISIBLE was shot on the river Niger, close to the city of Niamey. This film features Damoure Zika and Moussa Hamidou, who were Jean Rouch's principle actor and sound engineer, respectively. The film is set during 'Cinema day', a day during which people in Niamey could see as much films as they want with only one ticket. This day also coincides with an unofficial "Holley" ceremony, an animist Songhay ritual. Damoure and Moussa embark on a pirogue and head upstream to the place where the ceremony is due to take place. As they go along, they recount stories and talk about cinema. During the trip a small radio is swapped for a mask from South West Africa which soon is to be understood as the key event in the film. This mask is a vehicle enabling man to embrace the spirit of an animal. During the ritual of the "Holley" ceremony, the camera is bewitched and reveals the figure of a chameleon. The reptile's change of colour, his invisibility and ability of camouflage are placed in parallel with the ability of the film stock to become the "invisible eye" and to remain at the service of this condition. The title 'Secretary of the Invisible' is an expression used by the character, Elisabeth Costello in J.M. Coetzee's book entitled "Elisabeth Costello". It’s expression that Coetzee himself borrowed from the famous Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz.

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Shoot: River Niger, Niger, May 2007Camera: Aaton XTR +Stock: 7218, 7274 KodakLense: 12-120mm, 50mm lens Canon ZoomAspect ratio: 1:77Director of Photography: Jessica ServieresEditor: Helle le FevreSound: Matthias Fayos, Moussa Hamidou, Damien PerrollazWith: Damoure Zika and his family, Moussa Hamidou, Sani, Hamidou Yaye Producers: Karen Katz, Lydia Martin, Corinne CastelProducers: Pinky Ghundhalle, Maggie EllisProcess and grade: GTC, Joinville-Le-PontProduced by: Arts Council, London, England with the support of Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network, Mamco, Geneva, Switzerland, Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK, Alan Djanogly

Transcription of the dialogues in Secretary of the Invisible

I had travelled a few times to the Songhay territory in Niger to meet up with Damoure Zika and Moussa Hamidou.We decided to make a film in one day.“Cinema Day"allows you to see two films for the price of one from 6 to 10 pm at the Jean Gorzo Cinema in Niamey.You can also participate in celebrations all day along the river Niger.Have a nice Sunday!That day coincided with an unofficial "Holley" ceremony we wanted to see.Back in the day there was no cinema in Niamey.Only the Petroco Kino cinema.There you could see a movie for only 15 CFA!It was the best place in town.My favorite films were "The Invisible Man", "Tarzan" and "The Lone Ranger", a cowboy film. You know... a western with the music...But our cinema was born here on the river.Yes, modern cinema was born here.Cinema was... born with crocodile hunting!Yes, crocodile hunting!And hippopotamus hunting!Cinema is a sweet lie, a "Zamba".It is a trick.Take a bit of fantasy, stir it with a bit of reality... all of a sudden it appears like the truth!Cinema fabricates lies to trick people around.But lies only make beautiful flowers... never any fruits.During our trip the pirogue man wanted to swap my small radio for another transmitter... a mask which did not belong to the Songhay tradition.It was a "transformation mask" from South West Africa; a vehicle to enable man to embody the spirit of an animal.The "Holley" is a ceremony during which the Songhays make offerings to the Gods of the river.I brought my mask along...The Zimma priest had set the mask close to the musicians. Soon the girls started mocking the intruder...Tell me who is there...?Who are you?Cough it out!Come and help her.Cough it out… and the spirit will go away.Stop the music...I saw the tail of a reptile!The mask had brought the spirit of a chameleon. Later that night it spoke out..."I am an Other, I am multiplied and several…as well as one.I am an invisible eye.You and I are transmitters.We are secretaries of the invisible."

CHAMELEON (A PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR)Photogram and gold leaf collageUniqueDimensions 45 x 54 cm2008

The Chameleon is a photogram from the film «The Secretary of the Invisible» in which the figure of this animal represents the Author. The theme of mimesis, metonymically represented by the chameleon, runs throughout the film. The reptile’s change of color, its camouflage and subsequent invisibility are placed in parallel with the ability of the author to become an «invisible eye» and to remain in the service of this condition. The gold on his back is to hide his awkwardness, it reflects the shimmering colors of the world and helps him to hide. In western Africa the chameleon’s presence is said to be benefic in one’s surrounding, it protects from darkness, as the darkness perceives him as a point of convergence of all spectrums.

THE IMAGINARY REALITIES (A REPORTAGE)The three brothers' cave fighting ibex (Provenance: Ariège, France – Era: Magdalenian)Catalogue: Chefs d’Oeuvre du Musée de l’Homme, Paris 1965. pp. 36-37 Image Mr Jose OsterCharcoal print2009

THE IMAGINARY REALITIES (A REPORTAGE) is a project to insert photographs inside the display of the collection of the Museum of Mankind, Paris. These photographs are reproductions of images from the catalogue Chefs d’Oeuvres du Musée de l’Homme. Published in 1965, this catalogue remains until now the only reference for the museum’s collection. The project is to install each photograph in the room where the original work is.

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Prints: Picto Paris Assistant: Grégoire Pujade-Lauraine

THE IMAGINARY REALITIES (A REPORTAGE)Venus from Lespugue (Provenance: Haute-Garonne, France – Era: Upper Palaeolithic) Catalogue: Chefs d’Oeuvre du Musée de l’Homme, Paris 1965, pp. 90-91Image Mr Jose OsterCharcoal print2009

CRYSTAL PALACEBlack and white 35mm film with soundAbout 20’Work in progress2008

This film is a quiet promenade at night inside the Museum of Mankind, Place du Trocadéro in Paris. All of the Museum is visited: the famous cinema and the areas reserved for the staff including restaurant, offices and coffeebreak areas. Most of the rooms are lit by the Eiffel Tower and its hourly flickering lights. This creates the effect of highlighting and of throwing into shadow pieces of the collection as if a flash of lightning was illuminating the rooms. Other masterpieces of the museum have been displayed for the film among the rooms thereby creating a path not only through space but also through time.

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Shoot: Museum of Mankind, Paris, France, October 2008 Camera: Aaton Penelope 35mmStock: 5231 KodakLense 12-120 mm zoom lenseAspect ratio: 1:85Director of Photography: Caroline ChampetierEditor: Helle le FèvreSound: Matthias FayosProducers: Julie Gonssard, Grégoire Pujade-LauraineProduced by: Malmö Konsthall, Sweden; FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, France; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Fondation, Austria

UNION POUR LA CINEGENIE

This conversation took place via email in February 2009

The publication of this text marks the official launch of L’Union Pour La Cinégénie.

This interview will also be published in Newspaper Jan Mot N.66, March 2009

Manon de Boer: Before we actually met, our works had been shown together inseveral exhibitions and festivals. Each time I saw your work I had a feeling ofrecognition, as if we shared the same universe. Somehow our paths never crossed untilthe Venice Biennial in 2007, where both our work was shown. That was when weproperly met and started talking…and it turned out that this interest was mutual. Onething I recognize in your work is that the subjects of your films circle around a set ofquestions about formal art and cinematographic language, as well as life and humanity.For instance, your film Ariana (shot in and above the Panjshêr Valley in Afghanistan),which examines different interpretations of the panorama: as a cinematographicmovement, a strategic place in military terms, and a 180-degree painting. It seems thatthese questions kept haunting you during the process of filming and editing Ariana andas a result the different questions and possible answers (both formal and existential) areconstantly reflected in one another in the final film. For me this creates an existentialspace in which both doubt and hope are present. When I last saw you in Paris, inNovember 2008, you came up with the idea to start L’Union Pour La Cinégénie. Couldyou tell me how this idea came about?

Manon de Boer: Before we actually met, our works had been shown together in several exhibitions and festivals. Each time I saw your work I had a feeling of recognition, as if we shared the same universe. Somehow our paths never crossed until the Venice Biennial in 2007, where both our work was shown. That was when we properly met and started talking…and it turned out that this interest was mutual. One thing I recognize in your work is that the subjects of your films circle around a set of questions about formal art and cinematographic language, as well as life and humanity. For instance, your film Ariana (shot in and above the Panjshêr Valley in Afghanistan), which examines different interpretations of the panorama: as a cinematographic movement, a strategic place in military terms, and a 180-degree painting. It seems that these questions kept haunting you during the process of filming and editing Ariana and as a result the different questions and possible answers (both formal and existential) are constantly reflected in one another in the final film. For me this creates an existential space in which both doubt and hope are present. When I last saw you in Paris, in November 2008, you came up with the idea to start L’Union Pour La Cinégénie. Could you tell me how this idea came about?

Marine Hugonnier: The idea of the Union came about as a way to fulfil a desire to bring together people who have understood image making (cinema for example) as a way of investigating reality, whether this reality is a true cultural ground or an imaginary landscape.

MDB: Do you already have an idea of how you would like the Union to manifest itself?

MH: I would like us to speak mostly about art, but to understand that term as something beyond installation, painting, sculpture, cinema, design, architecture, exhibitions, museums, galleries etc. I would like our conversations to bring the idea of art to a point where either it begins to pale and vanish, or to shine so brightly; to seem so intensely alive, that reality starts to retreat like a faraway shore. In essence I would like us to position art in such a fragile and dangerous state that it will necessarily call for a critical phase of re-evaluation of our work. I would like our talks to invent a rarefied space where our work could only be defined as being between cinema and a travel agency, anthropology and a real estate agency, or geography and architecture. A space that defines cinema as a method of investigation of imaginary realites. The Union could then form an arborescence of references, where the tools are elaborated articulations which help our thinking processes. It would be great if the Union could become a real support system where ideas could be described, discussed, tested or destroyed if needs be. Maybe our work could consist of the elaboration of ideas and their transmission, making sure that our toolbox is always available to others…We could discuss the biology of love, wicked ways to cook pumpkin, fictional rituals and the topologies of snowflakes! Our journey could take us to the terra sin fin (the another name for the Amazonian forest) and reach Outopia, the nowhere land! I would like the Union to be an excuse to contact people we admire and say «Hi! Do you want to have a drink?». In any case, the Union should keep redefining itself. It’s for this reason that I use the expression “I would like it to be…” instead of “It is…” What the Union is should be defined by the fantasies and desires of the people who join it at different points.

This conversation took place via email in February 2009

The publication of this text marks the official launch of L’Union Pour La Cinégénie.

This interview will also be published in Newspaper Jan Mot N.66, March 2009

Manon de Boer: Before we actually met, our works had been shown together inseveral exhibitions and festivals. Each time I saw your work I had a feeling ofrecognition, as if we shared the same universe. Somehow our paths never crossed untilthe Venice Biennial in 2007, where both our work was shown. That was when weproperly met and started talking…and it turned out that this interest was mutual. Onething I recognize in your work is that the subjects of your films circle around a set ofquestions about formal art and cinematographic language, as well as life and humanity.For instance, your film Ariana (shot in and above the Panjshêr Valley in Afghanistan),which examines different interpretations of the panorama: as a cinematographicmovement, a strategic place in military terms, and a 180-degree painting. It seems thatthese questions kept haunting you during the process of filming and editing Ariana andas a result the different questions and possible answers (both formal and existential) areconstantly reflected in one another in the final film. For me this creates an existentialspace in which both doubt and hope are present. When I last saw you in Paris, inNovember 2008, you came up with the idea to start L’Union Pour La Cinégénie. Couldyou tell me how this idea came about?

MDB: Who would you like to be part of the Union?

MH: Anyone we would like to talk to, whom are directly involved with image making in general.

MDB: I like very much that you say, “I would like it to be”. It’s the opposite of the dogmatic manifesto, which one might expect from the name L’Union Pour La Cinégénie. It expresses openness and the desire that the Union will be something in motion, questioning the world and creating different worlds, over and over again. “I would like it to be” expresses a desire that is set in the (near) future. Nevertheless, what I see from the way you approach life and your work now, is that that what “you would like it to be” is already very much present. I recognize this in some talks we have had and in looking at your work. I also recognise it in the work of other artists that I like, and the feeling that these works are in dialogue with my own questions and doubts. It’s a dialogue that gives a context to those questions and simultaneously turns them around. For me these direct and indirect dialogues enable me to keep questioning my ideas and work, and to think about art in the way you describe above. You sent me a definition of Cinégénie: (nom féminin singulier): le fait d’être mis en valeur par le cinéma (voir Photogénique). When I read this, I first thought of how we both use cinematographic language to develop a set of more existential questions about life or what it is to be human. And that the physical and intellectual experience of watching a film, if the work is good, gives value to those questions. I also associated it with how filming itself gives an enormous feeling of pleasure, energy and fully living in the moment. What do you understand by le fait d’être mis en valeur par le cinéma?

MH: I am not so sure about une mise en valeur. I am not interested in the idea that cinema adds aesthetic value to reality. The word photogénique is interesting to put in parallel to the word Cinégénie. Photogenic is used to describe someone who brings something to the image. I would like to propose a new definition of Cinégénie: it is a quality that a particular set of circumstances can bring to a reality and that is recorded on image. Something along the lines of an “revelation” that makes the objectness of the image fade away, that reveals another reality and that could like science fiction. In fact I guess this Cinégénie is a what makes magic realism. Something that makes me catch my breath when I am filming and forget that I am holding a camera. Something that absorbs and condenses the entire world in less than 1/10 of a second. That incredible coincidence that makes things look harmonious and unbalanced at the same time… But also that very special quality of an image that allows you to become other then who you are, that makes you transgress social categories… this quality that makes cinema part of a project of social emancipation which has been central to Modern Art. I would then say that Cinégénie is a way of articulating different realities and creating new worlds; this is the kind of addition that could be of interest. The word Cinégénie reminded me of synergie which I really like since it means “the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual”!

MDB: The word ‘union’ can also denote a syndicate. This suggests that L’Union de Pour La Cinégénie is a political group. Is this your intention?

MH: The Union is an informal group of art amateurs... it is informal but still has the structure of an assembly. It is an amateurs’ group because we are all true art lovers who know that our professionalism is just a way to protect our amateurism. We should take very seriously the unseriousness of our task! I’d like the Union to be like a workers club where our guns are left at the door. We could think about building a community centre, a house of spirit per se, where we could spend time and wonder around. I guess that in that way it is a political group. But I would remain unsure about fixing the terms of the Union’s ideology. It should eschew all categories and become what it can be, more than what it should be. We should improvise our journey, keep zigzagging without a destination, not be afraid of inconsistency and “keep for ourselves the prerogatives of a child or a madman”!

MDB: I read in your desire that “it should escape all categories and become what it can be” a wish to create a free public space in which subjects can be critically explored in a personal way. In the context of an artwork this is for me the space in which the viewer is able to think for him/herself. Maybe in that sense ‘critical’ is a better word to use then than ‘political’, but it’s probably better not to label it at all. What could the Union do? Would you like to make shows together? Or organize talks?

MH: The kinds of actions I would like the Union to plan would correspond with the kinds of people we meet. It is difficult to come up with a big plan, but suggestions will start with meeting up for dinners and going to movies, walk in the snow in the summer time and publishing travel guides…What would you like the Union to be?

MDB: For me the Union, as you describe it, is a desire for true ‘rencontres’. It already is what I would like it to be. When I use this word I actually think of what Suely Rolnik once wrote to me about the ‘rencontre’ in the Spinozian/Deleuzian sense of the word. She spoke about the art of provoking les bonnes rencontres, which means a meeting of people or things that lifts both of them up and makes both of them stronger (this is my memory of what she said since I can’t find her exact words). The trick, of course, is also to avoid les mauvaises rencontres. Speaking about rencontres in relation to the Union, you say that you would like to invite Caroline Champetier. I remember that you spoke to me about meeting her and from what you said this felt like a real rencontre or ‘synergy’ in relation to your work. I know it is difficult to describe this particular energy, but could you say something about this rencontre with her?

MH: It was a very particular moment. I knew her work and had sent her an email with a film in mind. She answered straight away and invited me for coffee at her house. I remember walking up the stairs to her apartment feeling truly nervous. Once there she never asked any personal questions. All she wanted to hear about was this film project. Full stop. And probably because all personal things were aside we entered a very productive working ground. There was something very special to this moment; I knew I had found someone whom I would want to work with for a long time. If anything, I am actively working on new ideas only to be able to work with her again. I hope that the Union would provide opportunities for other rencontre like this one. MDB: I’m curious how this particular cinematographic approach, this way to “investigate reality whether this reality is a true cultural ground or an imaginary landscape” is manifested in Caroline Champetier’s work, in the way she deals with cinema and/or in the dialogue you have with her?

MH: Sometimes making images is a clear way to control reality; sometimes it is a way to create a distance between yourself and the world so that you can feel more comfortable. Caroline has a very particular way of looking at things; she is almost inside what she is looking at. And there is no fear in her look. She looks at everything in detail. Maybe one of the Union’s goals would be to build a catalogue of possible experiences of image making… meeting people who are involved in making images and listening to their methodologies… Seeing how far their subjects need to be for them to feel involved, how cinema is a way to learn where the other starts, as Serge Daney said...

MDB: It’s true that for me making films, especially the film portraits, is a way to learn where the other one starts. I often ask myself why it takes so long to begin a film when I have already known for a long time that I want to portray a certain person. I guess I need that time to absorb the other, her personality, ideas, stories. But it’s not a process of becoming one with the other, or being inside the other. I do feel that there always remains a distance between the person I’m portraying and myself. For example, during the two years that I was working on Resonating Surfaces, I only saw Suely Rolnik four times. In the period of time in between those meetings I connected bits and pieces of what she said about the voice to more abstract ideas and concepts and daily observations. It’s a process of

absorbing and trying to understand the other and at the same time holding the other at a distance to be able to draw multiple lines between that person, the world, and myself.

MH: And how does this work with your other films, like Two Times 4’33”, which are more based on a concept than a person?

MDB: With those films it is actually a similar process. For example for Two Times 4’33”, I was interested in what Cage wrote about silence and the awareness of the body. It made me question silence and sound in cinema in relation to space and the body of the spectator — the cinematic space of the image and the actual space the spectator finds him/herself in. These questions arise from more abstract thinking and from daily experience, like becoming aware of how the presence or sudden absence of the traffic noise outside affects my concentration and body. But coming back to the Union and you. How do you see the “investigation of cultural grounds” within your own work?

MH: I guess that “an investigation of cultural grounds” could be considered a fair definition of my work, since it is infused with the anthropology of images, but I used that just to give the Union a starting point. If anything I would like the Union to become foreign to my concerns. I may not be so interested in the Union if it tends to confirm my choices and legitimate my fields of research. The more independent the Union is from my concerns the better. I would like the Union to transport me to places I haven’t been… like an image.

UNION POUR LA CINEGENIE

Next pages: Letterhead paper for the Union

UNION POUR LA CINEGENIE

UNION POUR LA CINEGENIE

MODELE (A REVISION)Silk printed Rives paper, collages118 x 1502009

MODELE (A REVISION) is a series of three dimensional collages using the five colours (black, green, yellow, red and blue) of which Le Corbusier set the tones for his architecture. This revision of a form takes the modernist worldview apart in order to reveal its constituent parts which once were vehicles of progressive thoughts. This reinterpretation’s purpose is to reevaluate, confront and reactualise the premises and traditional concepts of postmodernist times. By doing so, these Revisions aim to highlight Modernism’s motives and values — liberty, equality, rights and the pursuit of happiness — in order to challenge the logic of the postmodernist state.

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Material: silk printed 300g BFK Rives paper, neutral adhesive Photo Mount 3M and filmoplast adhesive cotton strips Silk Printer: Atelier Arcay, ParisPaper restorer: Valéria Duplat, Ségolène Walle

UNTITLED (MUSEUM ON FIRE)Anonymous / Marine Hugonnier18th centuryOil on canvas25 x 30cm (painting)37.4 x 46.6cm (each condition report) This project is an ongoing work that started in June 2006 for which readymade paintings are restored by Rosalind Whitehouse under Marine Hugonnier’s direction. Each work is composed of a painting and of a pre- and post- condition report. It examines the process of restoration as an endeavor spanning two moments in time: the production of the artwork (A) and its reception (C). By focusing on the time in-between (B), the restoration itself highlights the temporality of an artwork, subtly altering its effects, changing its state and its conditions of visibility, changing the climate of an image. The first time this project was exhibited, a restorer was resident in the gallery over a five-week period, working on a number of paintings carefully chosen on subjects that run through Marine Hugonnier’s practice. The exhibition featured a working laboratory including an easel, chair, cabinet. Viewers were invited back to the gallery to witness the project’s fruition. There are currently 19 paintings that form part of this project.

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Restorer: Rosalind Whitehouse

Next page:UNTITLED (MUSEUM ON FIRE)Anonymous / Marine Hugonnier18th centuryOil on Canvas15 x 20 cm (unframed)

UNTITLEDAnonymous18th centuryOil on Canvas15 x 20 cm (unframed)

Pre-Restoration Condition Report - 12.06.06

The canvas is plain weave.A stamp on the reserve suggests that this painting dates from the 18th century.There are three holes on the painting.There are no areas of previous retouching on the image.The ground does not need any consolidation.The palette is red, brown and blacks.There is a thin layer of surface dirt all over the image.The detail and colour are well retained.There is no varnish.

UNTITLED (MUSEUM ON FIRE)Anonymous / Marine Hugonnier18th centuryOil on Canvas15 x 20 cm (unframed)

Post-Restoration Condition Report - 07.07.06

A thick layer of dirt was removed from the painting.This made the image below much clearer.It was then possible to see parts of the building, different tones of colour in the sky and details in the figures’ clothing.The figures seem to be wearing French military uniforms.This suggests that the building on fire is an important structure.The tears have been repaired by the insertion of small pieces of canvas into the image.The repairs were filled and retouched and are now invisible.The painting has been given a matte varnish.

STUDY (THE WOLF’S BELLY)Anonymous / Marine HugonnierDutch School late 17th centuryOil on copper22.2 x 28.8cm (painting)37.4 x 46.6cm (each condition report)

Next pages: Pre- and post- condition reports for the Museum on Fire

STUDY OF TREEAnonymousDutch School, late 17th centuryOil on Copper22.2 x 28.8 cm (unframed)

Pre-Restoration Condition Report - 06.06.06

The panel has a slight curve.This does not affect viewing of the image.Three figures appear in the foliage of the tree.There are extensive areas of retouching in the centre of the image.Below this retouching, the filling also appears to be un-level.The varnish layer appears to be discoloured in the area of the sky.There is a thin layer of surface dirt.The detail and colour are well retained.There is a slight thinning to some of the foliage along the perimeter of the tree.There is a thin layer of surface dirt on the reserve.Mounted in a Dutch style dark wood frame with chips and scuffs.The painting is attached with four hooks onto the frame.The frame has on area of loss (right hand corner) and scratches on the front.The felt inside the inner edge of the frame is worn out.

STUDY OF TREE (THE WOLF’S BELLY)Anonymous / Marine HugonnierDutch School, late 17th centuryOil on Copper22.2 x 28.8 cm (unframed)

Post-Restoration Condition Report - 07.07.06

The curve of the panel has not been flattened.The felt inside the inner edge of the frame has been replaced and is now supporting the copper panel more securely.A close inspection of the edge of the panel has been conducted.The panel has not been cut-down; it has always been this size.The painting had sustained extensive damage in the past, which had been covered with poor retouching.The damaged area (the middle of the painting) has now been filled, retouched and re-varnished.The dark Dutch wood frame has been cleaned, and areas of loss in the wood have been filled. It has been matte varnished.The discoloured varnish in the sky has not been retouched leaving the stormy atmosphere in place.The removal of dirt around these figures has made the secondfigure more visible, but still ghostly.The two figures in the foliage have brought to mind the story of the Little Red Riding Hood.

SUPERSTUDIO’S MISURA FURNITURE AGAIN (A MODEL FOR A REVOLT)Plywood and original Superstudio’s laminated plasticTable (104,9 x 104,9 x 76 x 6)Desk (183,3 x 84 x 78 x 6)Bench (165 x 45 x 41.2 x 6)Bed (258,2 x 201,4 x 24)Mirror (27x 27 x 18 x 3)Stool (48 x 45 x 45 x 3)2009

The show involved the Florence-based former architects group named “Superstudio” (1966-1978) which radically criticised architecture and design in the 60’s and 70’s. Here Superstudio’s furniture was cloned. The notion of “cloning” as a contemporary reproduction technique is used here. To clone means “to fabricate a modified copy that will be used for development or testing purposes” and as such, some of Superstudio’s domestic furniture was refabricated with the original black and white grid. The dimensions and therefore the original proportions of these have been modified. Altogether this leads to a state where architecture, design and art begin to collapse. In fact, cloning provides the opportunity of initiating a new critical phase of re-evaluation of the main concerns of Superstudio. All of this furniture is a permanent installation as a guests room inside the Villa Romana in Florence in which residents may sojourn. This bedroom is an invitation for further thoughts on this subject.

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Design: Superstudio, Misura Series, Firenze, ItalyProduced by: Villa Romana, Firenze, Italy

ONE DAY CELEBRATION (FOR PIERRE HUYGHE)One day celebration poster made for Pierre Huyghe’s One Year Celebration project.2003-2006

Celebrate the day we have walked on the moon

JULY 20 – MARINE HUGONNIER

To celebrate the first man who has walked on the moon, we should be able to buy in any shops a reproduction of Neil Armstrong’s rubber sole that we could glue on our shoes.

LABYRINTHBlue, red, green, yellow sheets of ply wood, photograph, sawPerformance2003

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Produced by: Kurimanzutto Gallery, Mexico DF on the occasion of Damian Ortega’s group show entitled “Elephant Juice (Sexo entre amigos)“, December 2003, Mexico DF

As I came to Mexico to take part in the show I was held up by a man with a gun who threa-tened me until he finally robbed me. It happened as I was coming back from the gallery Kurimanzutto to the flat I was staying at, in a building with a doorman in the residential area of La Condesa. A pretty banal scene in Mexico megalopolis. What stroke me was that during that very short duration I haven’t felt at any moment that the man could have shot me. I felt strangely removed from the scene even when I saw very closely the black hole of the gun pointed at me. It is only later that fear invaded me and I felt pretty runned down. Most people who have experienced a trauma knows that it acquires full significance only post factually. Trauma only exist in a deferred way. Freud used to call it a “deferred action”. This temporal syncopation cuts right through the very core of consciousness. The consciousness of what is present is never only what we perceive in the present, all kind of delayed images are forming that very present. It means that present is never past nor it is a future, it also implies that present is past as well as is the future too. The mind in that way has no direct line to itself but must pass through complex systems of mediation, it ignores a sequential time line as we know it. Nowadays it seems that those effects of temporal displacements of the subject in time are natural consequence of the digitalized world we inhabit. During the show, which will be displayed only one day, a performance sequenced in 4 phases will take place. It will start at the opening and will be completed by the end of the day. Next to the entry of the “Laby-rinth“ a cut through a wall will reveal a second wall (phase A). A few hours later another cut through will be made through the second wall (phase B). And again another one (phase C) and the very last one (phase D). The last cut will reveal a picture which would have been taken when the first cut was made. This piece makes a very questionable assumption. If the brain ignores time sequences and in fact a point in time also infers later times then in this processal sculptural work, moving forward doesn’t necessarily mean moving towards a future moment and memory becomes anticipation in reverse. One more thing: strangely enough the guy who robbed me took only on thing: my watch.

Mexico DF, December 14th 2003.

PROJECT FOR A FAMILY CAR2004-2014

Work in progress

This research for this project started in May 2004 for which a regular family car would be painted with a shifting color. That car would be then sent on an endless trip around the world.

In 2011, I came accross the «Cameleon Project» developed by the french «Direction General de L’Armement (DGA)» at the Eurosatory Fair. They are curently working on a fabric which copies patterns around an object and feature them on the fabric itself, making that object virtually invisible.

UN COUP DE DES JAMAIS N’ABOLIRA LE HASARD(LA FORME DU MYSTERE)Folds made in Stéphane Mallarmé’s “Un Coup De Dés Jamais N’Abolira Le Hasard”, Gallimard Editions, 2006Open window, spider, man in a tuxedo11 frames50 x 32.4 cm2007

Odillon Redon’s bedside book has been stolen and its pages have been folded to extend the space and time of the poem’s interstices bringing his dreams to a deeper sleep. The exhibition of this work should be composed of a space with an open window, a spider and a man dressed in a tuxedo who changes each of the eleven frames on the hour, leaving the room empty on the 12th hour. This work forms part of the “Bedside Book Project”.

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Paper restorer: Valéria Duplat

UN COUP DE DES JAMAIS N’ABOLIRA LE HASARD(L’ESPACE SOCIAL)Image clips onto Stéphane Mallarmé’s “Un Coup De Dés Jamais N’Abolira Le Hasard”, Gallimard Editions, 200611 frames50 x 32.4 cm2007

Richard Hamilton’s bedside book has been stolen and its interstices have been fill up with images changing its reading for one night. This work forms part of the “Bedside Book Project”.

OUVRAGE GEOGRAPHIQUE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6Accordion books13.2 × 19 cm2004 / 2007

Each of these books is a companion to the following projects: Ariana (the blue book), The Last Tour (the white book), Travelling Amazonia (the green book), Towards Tomorrow (the yellow book), The Secretary of the Invisible (the black book), The Crystal Palace (the grey book). They are made of images collected before, during, and after these projects were made. Their accordion shape allows one to edit the book’s content in 1000 different ways.

Next page:OUVRAGE GEOGRAPHIQUE 1

OUVRAGE GEOGRAPHIQUE 3Accordion book13.2 × 19 cm2004 / 2007

OUVRAGE GEOGRAPHIQUE 2Accordion book13.2 × 19 cm2004 / 2007

PROJECT FOR INHOTIM (BRAZIL)

This permanent pavilion is a project to be built on a high vantage point inside the Inhotim park. The mirrored front surface of the pavilion reflects everything around it. The trails that lead to the pavilion have been carefully designed so that only the reflection of the mirror can be seen. The sides of the pavilion are always out of sight. The pavilion is a cinema that shows a 24-hour film projection. The film sequence shown is a view of the sea across the International Date Line in Alaska. This film is projected onto the real view of the park seen from the pavilion. This film sequence will be shot on the Bering straight looking towards Siberia. Due to the International Date Line, Siberia is always 24 hours ahead of Alaska. This film sequence is therefore, in effect, a picture of the future. Inside the pavilion the glass window is covered with a perforated plastic sheet which can support a film projection. The tiny punctures in the plastic sheet also allow the real view of the park to be seen through the glass window. Outside of the perforated plastic sheet is a mirror. The video projector has a built-in light censor that increases the strength of the light projected when ever the space goes dark. This means that the projection of the view across the International Date Line can be seen at dawn, at dusk, at night or whenever the light drops in the park (for example when a storm comes in or as a cloud goes by). Whenever the film projection cannot be seen, the pavilion remains a promise of a glimpse into the future.

SCHISME35mm film25 minutes2012

Work in progress

One of the major issues raised by Western Modern Art is the relationship between critical thought and mystical thought. In the 20th century, freed from its link with mythologies, Modern Art in the West formalised a promise of social emancipation. In doing so, it stigmatised the possibility of endangering the hegemony of mystical thought. In its most radical forms, 20th century art in the West fed on the ambiguity between these two schools of thought and experience. This crisis gave rise to modernism. This film shows the famous Jackson Pollock painting (Mural on Indian Red Ground, 1950) which belongs to the Tehran’s Museum of Modern art, being very slowly taken out of storage, carried through the Museum and its garden and being put back into storage. The film will be like a quiet parade. Shot in colour, the sound track will be recorded during this event. No voice over or commentary will be added to the film.

LES ACTUALITES (Building the new World Trade Center)C-print and powder coated aluminium sculpturesSculpture: 18 x 31 x 23 cmFrame: 76,8 x 69,8 cm2012

News images are combined with scupltures as a diaristic record.

 

 

Patchwork of news images and sculptures.

PORTRAIT OF A REPORTER (THE MASK OF ANARCHY)16mm and DCP40 minutes2014

Work in progress

Laurent Van der Stock is a French national, born in Belgium in 1964. He is a war photogra-pher. He has concentrated on areas of conflict including the defeat of the Ceausescu’s regime, the civil war in Yugoslavia, Chechnya, the Gulf war and Afghanistan in 2001. He has been covering the Syrian conflict for the past two years and whilst there he documented the use of Nerve gas in the Syrian city of Damascus. His images and testimony where the first proofs which helped the growing body of evidence forcing Governments and the UN into action.

This film will take place out of a conflict zone, when Laurent is back on a safe ground which is a usually a cheap hotel room. The film will show his unproductive time, non-eventful time, time at which he is also preparing himself to embark on a new story. The film will show the way he frugally survives the aftermath, passes time, and heals himself from what he has wit-nessed. It will show how he lives close to his pre-packed bag which has a few t-shirts, under garments and socks, a tooth brush and some shots of morphine in case. How he keeps a secret plastic sleeve on him at all time with his passport and the contact details of key people in the closest embassies. How he cares for his lenses and camera, his satellite phone and it’s charger more then any of his belongings. How he maintains order and repeats his gestures to make sure he never loses control of his materials.

Gradually during the film his psychological reality will transform the real environment of the hotel bedroom. An internal monologue will start and some part of his favorite poem The Mask of Anarchy of Percy Shelley, which is the first modern statement of the principles of civil disobedience, will be heard. He will fall asleep the film will show his dream. That dream will depict the recent story of the life-size bronze Apollo sculpture found at sea near Gaza, which is now in the hands of Hamas. His dream will playfully imagine how the Greek God of the Arts could interfere in the conflict.

The purpose of the project is to give physicality to a figure that is usually absent from the images we know of conflicts. It aims to show the reality of a war reporter and wants to raise a question: could that role - when the conventions of impartiality are crossed - merge with the one of an activist and an artist, and play a different role in shaping history?

CS: NIGHT FALLS SLOWLYLaurent is in the shower. The room is empty. The radio is on. The news in arabic can be heared (subtitles appear). The latest situations in diffe-rent conflict zones are described as the story of a discovered bronze Apollo:«...Discovered by a fisherman in shallow water near the Egyp-tian-Gaza border, the 2,500-year-old, life-size statue has dropped off the radar since its initial appearance. Ahmed al-Borsh, director of Gaza’s Antiquities Department, was recently quoted by Ameri-can National Public Radio as saying that the Hamas government had the statue in storage and was hoping to leverage it to forge ties with Western institutions.»We want to establish direct connec-tions with official institutions who share our aim of protecting the statue,» he said.»Direct connections» is the key phrase for Hamas. Considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, Hamas hopes that international interest in pre-serving the statue could crack open the door of isolation...»The light on the desk flickers as if tuned to the words.

CUT TO:Laurent comes out of the shower..and lies down on the bed. The doors of the mirrored cupboards are opened and they reflect his body as broken parts.

CS: Close up of the reflection of his body as broken parts in the mirror.

PORTRAIT OF A REPORTER (AS A YOUNG ARTIST) - M.HUGONNIERBlack and White40 minutes

PAGE 13

CUT TO / EXTERIOR DAY / COLOURThe man who was in Laurent’s bedroom is hiding behind a wall. HE holds his rifle through a hole in the wall. He shoots once and notices Laurent ..

-Laurent... Head down... I have to show you something... Come this way...whispers the man.

CS:The man walks through a hole in a wall and Laurent follows.

CS / INT DAYA group of men are standing around what looks like a body covered by a white sheet... Laurent comes closer.

PORTRAIT OF A REPORTER (AS A YOUNG ARTIST) - M.HUGONNIERColour40 minutes

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CUT TO: A hand lifts the sheet... a bronze sculpture is revealed.

-Laurent here is the Apollo I told you about...

CUT TO:The men lift the sculpture so it stands on its feet.

CS:Long shots of parts of the sculpture which shines like gold..

-Laurent this is our Trojan horse...

PORTRAIT OF A REPORTER (AS A YOUNG ARTIST)- M.HUGONNIERColour40 minutes

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CUT TO / EXTERIOR DAWNA fluorescent green outline of the sculpture stands in an open landscape. It is a giant.

-We could all fit in it.. all the rebels...all of us Laurent....all of us!

CS / EXT DAWNA military tank comes up to it.

CUT TO / INTERIOR NIGHT / HOTEL ROOMLaurent opens his eyes suddenly. He looks straight at the camera.

PORTRAIT OF A REPORTER (AS A YOUNG ARTIST) - M.HUGONNIERColour40 minutes

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LETTER TO MY FRIEND CM35mm and DCP25 minutes2014

Work in progress

This project is a film of the famous tapestry of the Apocalypse (Château D’ Angers, France). There is a formal link between the tapestry of the Apocalypse and cinema: the latter consists of a series of panels that are spread over 104 meters as a storyboard or as a strip of analogue film would be. In an interview dating from 1961 between Jacques Rivette and Jean Renoir, the latter said of Angers’s tapestry that is the first film ever made.

There is also a link between the subject of the apocalypse and cinema. An apocalypse is a revelation (this is its Greek etymology). Common sense it that an apocalypse is the story of the end of the world but this is a misinterpretation. An apocalypse is a genre apart, it is a narrative framework that always tells the same story: the story of a divine vision -a revelation transmitted to a man through supernatural beings in a representation of the world characterized by two co-existing levels of reality: the sensitive human experience and another one invisible and spiritual but crucial for human’s destiny. The revelation announces the imminence of a new and better world. This revelation is a prophecy and shows us the divine sense of an era and how the people will soon be liberated. The Angers Apocalypse is therefore akin to cinema through its form but also through its subject, as cinema in general also unveils the world: it reveals it.

The film will replay the scenes of the famous film from the Medvekine group: “Lettre à mon ami Pol Céde” during which two people are driving their film stock to a lab and talk about cinema. Apocalypse films as a genre usually discuss the idea of the end of the world but also want to exhaust the idea of cinema. Here the purpose is to do so but also to invent a positive policy of images; to re-activate the political message of the tapestry. The film will convey the message of the Apocalypse by transforming its symbolic significance into a tool, an idea to serve a social project and be at the service of the promise held by the tapestry which is nothing less than a project of social renewal.

INT VOITURE/ DE NUIT

-Je fais un clap?(clap)-Non celui là il était pas bien…Encore?(clap)-Voilà.

-Pourquoi c’est si cher les laboratoires?-Pourquoi c’est si cher les laboratoires?-Parce le cinéma est un instrument de classe!-Ou ca l'était et maintenant le cinéma est entre les mains de tous.-Le cinéma c’est une arme terrible. Et maintenant que tout le monde a des armes, on peut tous fo-menter des révolutions!-Ouais nous on fait la guérilla.-Ou plutôt de l’underground.-C’est ca du souterrain...

(A l’opérateur)-Donne moi la camera c’est toujours les opérateurs qui ont les caméras…Ha ha … On entend le moteur qui tourne c’est beau!Souriez mon de Diou!Souriez mon de Diou!

-Vous etes sure qu’on va arriver au laboratoire ?… qu’on aura pas assez de pellicule ?-On y est la ... Le panneau dit 30 klms donc avec 10 minutes de pellicule on y sera.

STORYBOARD PAGE 3

CLOSE UP SUR DES DETAILS DE LA TAPISSERIE

Et tu te dis Non de Dieu que la nature est belle…En fait c’est la pellicule qui dévoile la nature.La pellicule dévoile la réalité.Quand elle dévoile la réalité on dit que la pellicule est voilée.C’est tout.C’est tout.La pellicule est sensible.Mon dieu que la nature est belle.Alors si celui qui tient la caméra est sensible.Si celui qui tient le micro est sensible.Si tout le monde est sensible et que la pellicule est sensible.Alors…Alors…

Bruissement de voix dans une salle d’exposition, la voix de la guide s’entend au loin…

«Et voici la scène numero 3:Et St Jean nous dit« Je vis dans le ciel sept chandeliers Et St Jean nous dit« Je vis dans le ciel sept chandeliers d’or, et au milieu de ces chandeliers d’or, le fils de l’homme. A cette vue je tombai comme mort à ses pieds et l à effectivement on peut voir st Jean aux pieds du fils de l’Homme.Cet homme, St Jean nous le décrit ainsi : « Il était vêtu Cet homme, St Jean nous le décrit ainsi : « Il était vêtu d’une robe blanche, signe de son sacerdoce ; sur la poitrine une ceinture d’or, signe de sa royauté, il avait une chevelure blanche comme la neige ou la laine, signe de son éternité divine, un regard comme deux flammes de feu, sondant les reins et les cœurs, et il portait dans la bouche une épée double tranchant. Le christ dit à St Jean « Ne crains point, je suis celui qui Le christ dit à St Jean « Ne crains point, je suis celui qui est mort et qui est ressuscité. Ecris dans le livre ce que tu vois, Voici le secret des 7 étoiles que je tiens dans ma main droite et des sept chandeliers d’or sont les sept églises. La parole divine est lumière. Pour porter la lumière, il faut des chandeliers, pour transmette la parole. »

STORYBOARD PAGE 6

INT VOITURE / LE JOUR SE LEVE

Un petit cigare?

Petit cigares cubains! Comme je vous aime...Petit cigares cubains...

LA PLAGE ARRIERE DE LA VOITURE.LES PELLICULES DU FILM AVEC LE MOT APOCAAPOCALYPSE DESSUS.

STORYBOARD PAGE 30

EXT / LEVER DE SOLEIL

-Mon histoire est sans fin.Et de toute façon ce sera toujours la même histoire,Une histoire d’homme qui cherche le soleil,Rouge bien sûr.Une histoire d’un soleil a égale distance de tout le Une histoire d’un soleil a égale distance de tout le monde.Et si les récits de lutte m’intéressent c’est toujours pour me raconter le soleil,Les étés finissent et les automnes pourrissent…L’histoire est sans fin…

CREDIT ROLL…..

LL’EQUIPE DU FILM S’EMPARE LE CHATEAU D’ANGERS

STORYBOARD PAGE 36

L’AVENIRProject for the MAMO, Marseille In association with Emmanuelle Luciani, Charlotte Cosson and Ora Ito 2014

« L’AVENIR» is a small traditional fishing boat from Marseille, a “pointu”. This boat is made available to the association of the same name and will invite people during promenades and swims in the coves of Marseille. The boat is a pretext to hear how our projections shape the world, to discern how we dream our future.This small popular boat will receive people from all economic sectors. Its purpose is to hear the fantasies of writers, farmers, historians, doctors, poets, politicians, industrialists, anthro-pologists, artists, filmmakers, unions, architects, fishermen, journalists, web programmers, or anyone else in our postmodern era. These boat trips will be an opportunity to define utopias, ideals, aesthetic, progress, economies, policies, techniques, manners which are all ingredients that affect the way we travel, work, build, go to war, seduce, distract ourselves, which in turn shape the core of our vision for the future. These invitations are testimonies that will help us to foresee the upcoming battles, their eco-nomy and politic and future aesthetics. These promenades on the boat will be a moment away from the shore in which to engage in conversations around a lunch. The “pointu” is a prospective and discursive platform. It can also be a simple invitation to laziness.

The «AVENIR» project was launched on January 18th 2014. That day the newspaper «La Provence» inserted 4 monochromes which are the colors of the association.

APICULA ENIGMA35mm film or Blue Ray26 minutes2013

This film was shot in Austria in the Koshuta mountains of southern Carinthia. This region is also know as the «Carnica country». The Apis Millifera Carnica (or the carnica honey bee in English) is the most popular bee in the area which has a long tradition of beekeeping.This film is an animal documentary of another kind. The thread that unifies it is the metaphor of the beehive as a camera obscura. The beehive is a black box which content is never revealed in the film. What it mirrors is the world as a whole.The film recorded the factual truth of what happened on set. Staying close to the factual truth included filming the crew and the process of making images of the bees. The aim was to film the space in between the crew and the bees, the «being in the presence» with the bees. This film is a way to find the distance at which the animal world keeps its enigma. Apicula Enigma literally means: the bee’s riddle.

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Director of photography Attila BoaCamera Red transferred to 35mm and to Blue RayLenses 11/165 mm Canon Zoom f 2.8100 mm Arri Macro f 39.5 mm Zeiss f 1.2Endoscopic lenseFirst assistant Eva MittermüllerBeekeeper Peter HopfgartnerSound recording Peter RoesnerSound editing Henning KnoepfelImage editing Martina Moor

ANIMASeries of 3 powder coated aluminium sculptures on mirrored pedestals2014

Anima is part of a series of abstract sculptures which are moveable objects. The title refers to the words: soul or spirit or psyche (Greek translation). This work is installed on mirrored pedestals which reflection brings together the viewer, his surrounding and the sculpture to form one new body, incorparating the visitor into its inverted image.

A new prototype is currently been worked on where these aluminium or steel powder coated sculptures will be able to move on their own at random moments, ideally when no one looks at them.

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Next page:ANIMA4 Yellow sculpturesPowder coated steelTriangle: 20cm W x 15cm H x 7cm DAsymmetric: 16cm W x 10cm H x 13.5cm DSemi Circle: 17.5cm W x 12cm H x 5.5cm D Square: 16cm W x 16 cm H x 9cm DPedestal with mirror size: 50cm x 50cm x 100cm

ANIMABlue Sculpture and vintage Jaguar Advertising – Union Pour La CinegeniePowder coated aluminiumSize of the print 20 x 28 Size of the sculpture: 21cm x 20cm x 6cm Pedestal with mirror size: 86 x 60 x 100cm H 2014

ANIMADETAIL: vintage Jaguar Advertising – Union Pour La Cinegenie

ANIMA5 Green sculptures and fruitsPowder coated steelArt work dimension : 20cms / 15 cms / 12.5 cms/ 11.5 cms/ 10 cmsPedestal with mirror size: 100 x 100 x 35 cm H / Mirror 100 x 100 x 0.4cm Thick2014

ASSEMBLY OF ANIMALS / UNION POUR LA CINEGENIE Etching by J.B. Huet, 1792Red Stamp62.8 x 49.8 x 4.5cm 2013

Assembly of Animals, is a 18th century etching stamped with the words «Union Pour La Cinegenie» (Union for Cinegenie). This union is an informal group created by Hugonnier and Manon De Boer with the purpose to define the made up word «cinegenie». The print came with the following text : « It seems fair to assume that this apparently innocuous collection of animals by French painter, designer and etcher Jean Baptiste Huet (1745 - 1811) has a much deeper historical and political significance. The print was created in the first year of the French Republican Calendar, a calendar proposed during the French Revolution and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805. The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, subsequently designated Year I of the French Republic, by the newly established National Convention. Perhaps this image of a wide variety of animal species, including the horse, lion, goat, dog and humble rabbit, converging apparently for some sort of conference, commemorates the first session of the National Convention on 20 September 1792. The delegates to the Convention came from all classes of society. Perhaps it is significant that instead of most days having an associated saint as in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, under the Republican Calendar each day has an animal.”

ANIMA(L)Series of 4 photographs and corresponding powder coated steel sculptures2014

The Anima(l) series are Anima sculptures “extended” as they are accompanied by a corresponding image of an animal.

Next page:ANIMA(L)Toucan Bird in the Iguassu park and yellow sculptureC-print and powder coated steelImage © CHRIS SCHMID / AURORA OPEN - CORBISFrame dimension 53.8 x 40.4 x 4.5 cm Sculpture dimension: 26 cm x 19 cm x 24 cmPedestal with mirror: 50 cm x 50 cm x 100 cm / Mirror 50 x 50 x 0.4 cm2014

ANIMA(L)Panthara Onca in the Pantanal and green sculptureC-print and powder coated steelImage © JOHN GIUSTINA-CORBISFrame dimension 223 x 167 x 7.2 cmSculpture dimension: 29cm W x 31 cm H x 27cm DPedestal with mirror size: 80 x 98 x 35cm H / Mirror size 80 x 98 x 0.4 cm Thick2014

WERE JAGUARSculpture, gold leaf and gold beads11cms x 20 cms high Plexiglass cube 23 x 23 x 10 cmsPedestal with mirror size: 70 x 65 x 65cm H 2014

This ready made Were Jaguar is a representation of a shaman becoming a jaguar - a common subject in high lands of South America. The sculpture has been enhanced with gold leaf and gold beads.

FOREST Collage book25 cms x 31,5 cms x 2 cms 2014

This book is an assemble of ready made images of forests, jungles and animals. All pages are sliced in different ways allowing multiple combinations. The viewer is invited to turn pages to create their own collage from the imagery. A book mark is stamped «Union Pour La Cinegenie» (Union for Cinegenie). This union is an informal group created by Hugonnier and Manon De Boer with the purpose of defining the made up word «cinegenie».

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Book biding: Book Works, London

VASE (OBJECT - IMAGE)3D modelling from a photograph from the Victoria and Albert Museum’s catalogue, LondonVase from Jindezher, China (1662-1722) from an unknown artistDimensions 32 cm 2014

A vase has been modeled in 3D from the photograph of an original vase from the Victoria and Albert Museum’s catalogue, in order to make an “Object –Image”. This new vase is an interpretation of the photograph. To a Victorian audience in search of the exotic, this style of decoration would have appealed as the epitome of the East. Commonly known as ‘Chinese blue and white’, vases like this were used to decorate the interiors of many British homes in the 19th century.

ARROWSTONE (OBJECT - IMAGE)3D modelling from a photograph from the catalogue of the Museo National de Anthropologica, Mexico DFPunta Musteriense - Paleotico Medio (25,000-30,000 a.p)2014

ARROWSTONE (OBJECT - IMAGE)3D modelling from a photograph from the catalogue of the Museo National de Anthropologica, Mexico DFPunta de Proyectil tipo Lermoide - Arqueolitico (30,000-14,000 a.p)2014

ARROWSTONE (OBJECT - IMAGE)3D modelling from a photograph from the catalogue of the Museo National de Anthropologica, Mexico DFFragmento Distal de Navaja Prismatica - Arqueolitico (30,000-14,000 a.p)2014

Work in progress

Three arrowstones have been modeled in 3D from original photographs of arrowstones fromthe Museo National de Anthropologica (Mexico DF)’s catalogue in order to make three “Object – Image”. These new arrowstones are an interpretation of these photographs.

 

FABLEHD Film and DCP55 minutes2013

Work in progress

This filmed road trip from London to Chauvet’s cave in Ardeche is a quest to find and to get to its door. This film takes place over a night until sun rise. A Poet, a priest, a young girl, a doctor, an archeologist will be pick up on the way and their conversations with the driver will be recorded.

THE ANGEL’S KISSHD and DCPDuration : 11 minutes2013

Work in progress

The Angel’s Kiss is a film which takes place in Karl’s Cathedrale in Vienna. The film starts with entering the cathedral and through to the elevator which brings people to the very top of the Dôme. Once there the film will show Rottmayr’s fresco (1730). A famous tale says that if you can find the angel that looks at you, you will find grace. The dome has been painted in such a way that there is only one position to catch the angel’s eyes. The film will try to find it.This film will shot be in one take with a small digital camera. Once on the top of the dôme the camera will be attached to a drone so it will be floating in space.

SONIC MIRAGE IIIImages and paper clips onto the second reproduction of John Cage’s lost original score of the 4’33’ silent piano piecePublished in Sounds Like Silence, John Cage 4’33’’ Silence today, Dieter Daniels / Inke Arns (Eds), Ed: Spector books (2012)2013

David Tudor’s second reconstruction of John Cage’s 4’33» silent piano piece, was written for a performance on the occasion of the video production «I have nothing to say, and I am saying it»by Allan Miller and Vivian Perlis, made for PBS. Images and paper clips have been inserted onto the score, as visual notes for future works.

LE ROYAUME35mm and DCPDuration 55 minutes2008-2014

Work in Progress

The film will follow the road between St Jean Pied de Port, in France to La Punta Reina in Spain (a distance of 100 km), and record the views this road offers to a pilgrim on his way to Santiago de Compostela. This non-narrative film in nature will eschew any formal or ‘fictio-nal’ devices, in favour of following the path of the road and capturing whatever arises over the course of the 10 day walk. Within the phenomenon of the pilgrimage itself is the idea that what the pilgrim is ultimately looking for at the other end of the road is the re-affirmation of a belief. But this re-affirmation, or reassurance, could be located as much in the images; these image being both a proof of existence of what is foreign and a way to believe in the possibility of an Other.This film is a quiet quest for this Otherness. Its images will reflect a desire for, and affirmation of, this belief and its disbelief. The film will consider the phenomenon of pilgrimage - a precursor and early form of tourism (Godard said: « Tourism is cinema’s original sin ») - as a critical tool to question the very idea of cinema. The film will attempt to represent « an experience of the image through the world » as opposed to « an experience of the world through images ».

INSTANTANESSeries of 6 works20 x 24 inches Polaroids150 x 1202012

INSTANTANES is part of a series of 6 works that explores the medium of instant polaroid film and photography in general. These works are a critical investigation of the process of producing these particular instant analogue images and of the necessary conditions to make them. As such this series features a model (Instantanés (Le modéle)), the studio where the picture were taken (Instantanés (Le Studio)), the climat condition during the day of the shoot (Instantanés (Les conditions atmosphériques)), the standard Kodak color chart (Instantanés (La charte de couleur)), Instantanés (La révélation)) and a fictional geographical place (Instantanés (Le bord de mer)).

These photographs are large format polaroids (50 x 60 cm). They were taken with one of only 3 large format polaroid cameras that exist in the world. The 26 black and white peel part film sheets used have been manufactured by Polaroid in the 80’s and kept in climate controled environment by Studio 20x24 in New York. The ones used here where the last ones available wordwide.

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Shoot: Studio 20x24 New York Director of Photography: John Reuter and Nafis Azad, New YorkCamera: Polaroid Land 20x24 (Built 1978)Stock: Polacolor P7 and Polapan 400Lens: 600mm Fujinon and 300mm Fujinon

Next page: INSTANTANES (LA CHARTE DE COULEUR)6 - 20 x 24 inches PolaroidsEach 150 x 120Art work size: 50 x 602012

INSTANTANES (LE STUDIO)3 - 20 x 24 inches PolaroidsEach 150 x 1202012

INSTANTANES (LE STUDIO)3 - 20 x 24 inches PolaroidsEach 150 x 1202012

DESIRE IS NOT MUCH BUT NONETHELESS...16mm film on a loop5 minutes - In collaboration avec Michael Newman2015

The film is a study of the Sleeping Hermaphrodite (second century AD) which belongs to the Louvre. This film makes two revolutions around the sculpture. The first round offers to see one body that becomes two; it thus refers to the myth of Narcissus, while the second round offers to see two bodies that become one, revealing the monstrous aspect of the sculpture. The sculpture is animated. These animations are key in near editing points thus creating an illusion. The constant movement of the camera around the sculpture adds to this ambiguity; the sculpture seems animated where it is still.The film includes the insertion of three images lasting 18 frames (1 second = 24 frames). These three images are perceived much more then they are seen. They are an answer to the question that has haunted the making of this film: what may the Hermaphrodite be dreaming of? The first two inserted images are an underwater view of a myriad of fish making a star dispersal movement and a horde of hyenas devouring an inert animal.These two images are complemented by a last one of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This image is the most important of the three as it finally pulls the Hermaphrodite towards contemporaneity. This image embodies popular uprisings: the dismemberment of the body of the state and the institution as well as the illusory and dangerous redesign of the people to form one body, which in a joyful and violent movement projects in space its desire to belong to the myth. This image sums up the first two: it is a symbolic syncretism of all the conflicting forces of desire, of all its paradoxes.These three images thus function as an acupuncture point in the tissues of the film. They are a fragile attempt to answer the question of the nature of desire and a possible interpretation of the dream of Hermaphrodite.

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Shoot : Grand Palais, Paris, Mai 2015Camera : Red Monochrome transfered to 16mmLense : 55mm ZeissDop : Tim SidellAssistant : Joseph MastrangeloAssistant 2 : Kim PearceEditing : Martina MoorGrade : Jason R MoffatAnimation : Hoxtonredsox, LondonPost-Production : Dejonghe Film, CourtraiCopyright: Pond5 / LoveNature

Collections ARCO Collection, Madrid, Spain Arts Council of England, UK British Council, UK BSI Collection, Lugano, Switzerland Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago de Compostela, Spain COFF - Fundación Centro Ordóñez-Falcón de Fotografía, San Sebastian, Spain Collection La Gaia, Busca, Italy David Roberts Collection, London, UKLe Louvre, ParisFondation pour la MAN, Luxembourg Fondation Serralves, Porto, Portugal Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy Fonds National d’Art Contemporain (FNAC), Paris, France Fonds Régional d’art Contemporain, (FRAC) Lorraine, Metz, France IFEMA Collection Inhotim, Brumadinho, MG, Brazil Jumex Collection, Mexico City, Mexico Kunsthalle, Bern, Switzerland MACBA, Barcelona, Spain Mamco, Geneva, Switzerland MUDAM, Luxembourg The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (ARC), Paris, France National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USAMuseo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain Neuberger Berman Collection, New York, USA Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA Sammlung Goetz, Munich, Germany Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, UK Thyssen-Bornemisza Contemporary Art Foundation, Vienna, Austria UBS Collection, London/Zürich, UK/CH The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway

Galleries

Galeria Fortes Vilaça, rua Fradique Coutinho, 1500 - Pinheiros, Sao Paulo, Brasil (Alex@fortesvilaca.com.br)Nogueras Blanchard Gallery, Xucla, 7, 08001 Barcelona, Spain (Rebeca@noguerasblanchard.com)