Desk Set

10.02—28.04.18

  • U+1F4C4-000

    Page Facing Up

  • 📄

    Drawing

  • Paul Otlet

    Black ink

  • Mundaneum

    1934

Madison Bycroft
Marvin Gaye Chetwynd
Kelly Jazvac
Ayoung Kim

Curator: Céline Poulin

 

“Petra Genetrix from Porosity Valley, date of birth unknown, gender not applicable. Welcome to the Immigration Data Center.” Arriving through a secret door, the machine begins to glow in the dark. Further on four women surrounded by books endlessly chatter from one door to another. The telephone rings, unheeded, once again. Sorting through microplastics, they talk about the ways of protecting oneself against human contamination. Others, sporting an octopus wig or a face crudely painted and wearing a paper costume, transform images, writing and bodies to become lyrical translators. All of them know the weight of the earth and the name of the customs. Between them and the machine the nature of emotional and objective knowledge plays out. Such is the flow that is exchanged, mutant, mute or talkative, and forever repeated, forever ritualized.

A little further along, a three-headed woman looks on, appearing to indicate different directions to go in. The choice is up to the observer, the gazes of the three heads imparting the tonality of the path to take. She is made of stone which is dripping slightly, contrasting with the group of bodies at work, dressed in Peter Pan collars, filing, sorting and stacking things at the other end of the room.

The dark makes seeing easier, although you still need to be able to pass, move in close enough to make out the precision of the criteria and decipher part of the codes. The signal is occasionally lost, the machine jams, unless it is an intentional system of encryption. By one’s wandering about, the consistency of the site—rhizomatic and hard to chart— enters the flesh; yes, eventually it should be possible to simplify it. Maybe simply sit there, next to those plastic and coral stones, on the composite slab mixed with vinyl and the blood of sacrifices. Breathing in the air they tried to sterilize—from which there arises nevertheless the smell of glue, powder and moldy earth, sewing up images and mixing the sources to produce new ones.

Madison Bycroft (b. 1987, Australia) is an artist who lives and works between Adelaide, Australia, and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Bycroft works in video, performance and sculpture. Madison is a graduate of the Piet Zwart Institute of Fine Art, in Rotterdam, an undertaking which was supported by the Anne and Gordon Samstag Scholarship. Along with Natalia Sorzano and Kari Robertson, Bycoft co-founded GHOST, a platform for new collaboration and facilitation. Recent International presentations have taken place in Liveworks performance act award and in the framework of Sharjah Biennal, Beirut, Lebanon; at Adelaïde, Marseille in association with Triangle France where she has been in residency in 2017; at Westfälischer Kunstverein in Muenster, Germany; at Yellow Brick, Athens, Greece; at Physics room, Christchurch, New-Zealand; and at Microscope Gallery as part of residency at the ISCP in Brooklyn, New York. Bycroft's Australian exhibitions include shows at Greenaway Gallery, Adelaide; at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney; at The Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide and at the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide.

Marvin Gaye Chetwynd (b. 1973, United Kingdom) lives in Glasgow, UK. Chetwynd’s practice intertwines performance, sculpture, painting, installation and video. Her work incorporates elements of folk plays, street spectacles, popular culture and Surrealist cinema. Her performances and videos often employ troupes of performers—friends and relatives of the artist—and feature handmade costumes and props. She has performed and exhibited internationally, and was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2012. Recent solo projects have taken place in Art Basel Parcours, Basel, Switzerland (2017); in frac île-de-france, le plateau (Paris, 2017 and upcoming in 2018), CCA Glasgow, UK (2016); Bergen Assembly, Norway (2016); Liverpool Biennial, UK (2016); Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany (2016); Edinburgh Art Festival, UK (2015); Open House Glasgow, UK (2015); Studio Voltaire, London, UK (2014); and Nottingham Contemporary, UK (2014). Recent group exhibitions include have been organized in Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2017); Liverpool Biennial Tour, Tate Modern, London (2017); Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany (2017); Sadie Coles HQ, London, and Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK (2017). She is represented by Sadie Coles HQ, London; Galleria Massimo de Carlo, Milan; and Gregor Staiger, Zürich.

Kelly Jazvac (b. 1980, Canada) works in collage, sculpture and installation. Simultaneously, she engages in interdisciplinary plastic pollution research with a team of scientists, artists and writers. A result of this work has been the description and study of “plastiglomerate”: a new hybridized stone made from molten plastic debris and naturally occurring sediment such as sand, wood and rock. Jazvac’s recent exhibitions have taken place in Fierman, New York; at The Berman Museum, Philadelphia; at Koenig and Clinton, New York; at Prosjektrom Normanns, Stavanger, Norway; at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto. She is represented by Fierman Gallery, New York.

The work of Ayoung Kim (b. 1979, South Corea) stands as experimentation focused on various types of writing and the narrative structure, on visual, sonic and linguistic levels. Ayoung Kim had solo shows at Melbourne Festival (2017); Palais de Tokyo (2016) and created a performance at the national opera house in Paris, Palais Garnier (2016). She presented her works at the Venice Biennale, Italy (2015); Maraya Art Centre, Dubai, UAE (2015); Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany (2012); Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea (2012); Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New York, US (2011); Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM), Brazil (2011); 176/Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK (2011); Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (2010) and many others. She was a resident artist at Pavillon Neuflize OBC Research Lab of Palais de Tokyo (2015-2016), and Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2012). She was awarded The British Institution Award from the Royal Academy of Arts in the UK in 2010 and Young Artist of the Year Award from the Ministry of Culture in Korea, 2015.

This project has been carried out in partnership with the Ilmin Museum of Art (South Korea), the Arts Council Korea, the Melbourne Festival, INA, the TPW Gallery in Toronto, frac île-de-france, Théâtre Brétigny and the Médiathèque of Brétigny-sur-Orge.
 

Documents

Agenda

  • Saturday 10 February 2018, 5 pm-9 pm

    Desk Set

    Show opening (5 pm) and performance by Madison Bycroft (6 pm)

    The show "Desk Set" gathers Madison Bycroft (1987, Australia), Marvin Gaye Chetwynd (1973, United Kingdom), Kelly Jazvac (1980, Canada) and Ayoung Kim (1979, South Korea). Madison Bycroft is pleased to present The Infinite Dog, an opening gesture for her installation and the exhibition.

    Free Paris-Brétigny shuttle is available by request at reservation@cacbretigny.com. Pick-up at 5 pm at 104 avenue de France, 75013 Paris (the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand metro stop).

  • Every Wednesday, 2.30 and 4.30 pm

    Avatar Identikit Picture

    Practical art workshop by Alexia Foubert

    In resonance with the show that is currently running, Alexia Foubert has developed a workshop that will focus on a contemporary version of the self-portrait via the avatar. Children participating in the workshop will describe their avatar to their partner, who will then have to draw it. The stories and drawings will take shape as a paper fanzine that is to be printed up at the end of the workshop.

    For children aged 3 and older. For further information and reservations: reservation@cacbretigny.com or 01 60 85 20 78

     

  • Saturday 3 March 2018, 4 pm

    Digital storytelling session

    In partnership with the Médiathèque de Brétigny-sur-Orge

    During school holidays, CAC Brétigny and the Médiathèque de Brétigny-sur-Orge join forces to help you to discover, hear and read stories around a touch-screen tablet. Children aged 3 and older.

    Children aged three and older. Reservation recommended: reservation@cacbretigny.com or +33 (0)1 60 85 20 78.

  • Sunday 11 March 2018, 2 pm-6 pm

    Desk Set

    Special opening

    Like every Sunday show at Théâtre Brétigny, CAC Brétigny, breaking with its normal schedule, will be open. On Sunday 11 March,“Desk Set” will be open on the occasion of  La langue coupée en 2,a show by Cie Alis at 3 pm.

    Information and tickets: contact@theatre-bretigny.fr or +33 (0)1 60 85 20 85.

  • Saturday 24 March 2018, 4 pm

    Performance by Madison Bycroft

    The sequel The Infinite Dog, the performance that Madison Bycroft conceived as an opening gesture for her installation and the exhibition. 

    “Taxitram” shuttle. For further information and reservations: taxitram@tram-idf.fr / 01 53 34 64 43

  • Saturday 9 June 2018, 3 pm-5 pm

    JDR*_Mnrvwx

    Roleplay with Alexia Foubert, Clara Pacotte and Esmé Planchon (adults)

    This roleplay is built around Mnrvwx, a science fiction text by Clara Pacotte. Participants will play various characters with nonbinary identities, dreamed up by the artist for the world of this text.

  • Tuesday 17 April 2018, 3 pm-5 pm

    JDR*_Mnrvwx

    Roleplay with Alexia Foubert, Clara Pacotte and Esmé Planchon

    This roleplay is built around Mnrvwx, a science fiction text by Clara Pacotte. Participants will play various characters with nonbinary identities, dreamed up by the artist for the world of this text.

  • Saturday 21 April 2018, 4 pm

    Collective translation workshop

    By Madison Bycroft

    Continuing the series of workshops mounted in Marseille, Athens, and Rotterdam, Madison Bycroft has invited a group of volunteers to discuss possible translations of texts selected by her. In the presence of the authors and in partnership with the Multimedia Library of Brétigny-sur-Orge.

  • Tuesday 19 June 2018, 3 pm-5 pm

    JDR*_Mnrvwx

    Roleplay with Alexia Foubert, Clara Pacotte and Esmé Planchon (adults)

    This roleplay is built around Mnrvwx, a science fiction text by Clara Pacotte. Participants will play various characters with nonbinary identities, dreamed up by the artist for the world of this text.