2012

Mor.Charpentier, Paris

“Exercises of Self-Destruction”

The probability of chance was a consistent presence in the works created by 20th century dance and music prodigee and Fluxus artist John Cage. His experimental compositions were a modern reaction to the dysfunction of institutional structures – and he consistently attempted to contrast the visceral tendency to abide by previously adapted norms with the chance beauty derived through the multiplicity of unrelated events.

The first piece presented, An Exercise of Self Destruction III / Remember, consists in a piece of paper containing an experimental text by John Cage, trapped between two irregular pieces of concrete. Between the contrast of lightness and heavyness in the materials used, the work addresses the idea of destruction through the polarity of oppositional forces, which, in this example, appear as condensed metaphors within the text by Cage.

The second piece, A Dead Song for John Cage is an homage to the artist. Three branches are placed together, and without any particular system of assemblage; hold each other in a very fine and precious balance. At the same time, each branch simultaneously holds an unprotected egg shell. The relationship between fragility, risk and destruction is implied through the delicate nature of the structure, as it is evident it could easily be destroyed at any moment.

The final piece, Flood, will unite the presentation by encapturing in its physical presence the link between the allusions created by the other structures to the susceptibility of the project and the concrete result of a structure transformed.

 

 

ART-O-RAMA 2012

Installation view
© Marjolaine Turpin