On the renovated Foundation Van Gogh, Solaris Chronicles, and the LUMA Arles launch

Joseph Nechvatal

Published at Hyperallergic as Arles Well That Ends Well here

http://hyperallergic.com/119759/arles-well-that-ends-well/

It first looked to be cold, gray and rainy on the first April weekend in Arles, somewhat in stride with the

general dour spirit of the French these days. This grouch has been indicated by the regional election

successes of the far right-wing National Front party. With stagnation unemployment in France at over 10%

(around 12% in the European community) the mood under the current Parti socialiste administrate has been

overcast, malcontent and nationalist, of late. But with the first breath of April spring, a psychic

international egg was hatching in the Camargue, cradled in the nest of art. So even as the mistral winds

blew hard, they blew warm and from gauche à droite à gauche.

The art program started on Thursday night with openings in private art galleries (I myself had a vernissage

at Galerie Omnius) and then with the Friday opening of the newly vitalized Foundation Van Gogh,

orchestrated by the Swiss zoologist, environmentalist and philanthropist Luc Hoffmann.. Dr. Hoffmann, at

91, is a congenial and generous man with warm and bushy eyes who has been supporting Foundation Van

Gogh for decades while under the direction of its founder Yolande Clergue. (Yolande’s daughter, the

curator Anne Clergue, opened a new gallery in Arles the same weekend.) But now the foundation has

moved to a new and very chic location fashioned by the architects Guillaume Avenard and Hervé

Schneider.

After three years of work it opened its doors with the inaugural exhibition Van Gogh live! curated by the

Kunsthaus Zürich-bassed Swiss art critic (and founder of the magazine Parkett) Bice Curiger, who is now

the director of the Foundation Van Gogh.

I dug that Bice cheekily chose to highlight-center a tremendously cryptic Thomas Hirschhorn installation

that both celebrates and mocks Van Gogh’s popularity and non-exclusivity. For his new, large-scale piece

“Indoor Van Gogh Altar” (2014), Hirschhorn imagined himself as a young Japanese woman of today who

is obsessed by Van Gogh.

Thomas Hirschhorn, “Indoor Van Gogh Altar” (2014)

I lingered in the sprawling silver installation for as long as I could, given the crowds, before passing swiftly

by a room of Elizabeth Peyton’s portraits (I obviously don’t get Peyton’s appeal) and headed straight for

the dozen works by Van Gogh on loan from other institutions; my favorite being “Autoportrait avec pipe et

chapeau de paille” (1887) and “La Maison jaune (‘La rue’)” (1888) - both from the Van Gogh Museum in

Amsterdam. These were set off alongside his influential contemporaries such as Camille Pissarro, Gustave

Courbet and Claude Monet. This re-opening of the foundation topped off a new look at Vincent Van Gogh

taking place in France with the show Van Gogh / Artaud, The Man Suicided by Society that continues at the

Musée d’Orsay in Paris through July 6th.

With Saturday came the hatching of an enormous project for Luc’s daughter, Maja Hoffmann: the opening

of work on her 20-acre LUMA Arles campus, the aim of which is to create a contemporary art center for

living labor. LUMA Arles will be providing artists with opportunities to experiment in the production and

presentation of new work in collaboration with other artists, curators, scientists, innovators and audiences.

The goal is to create a community to produce new work and ideas.

LUMA Arles encompasses six historic, large-scale industrial buildings, of which five are being renovated

by Selldorf Architects for presentations, installations, exhibitions, artists’ residencies and studios. One

historic building, the Grande Halle, was renovated in 2007 by the initiative of the Provence-Alpes-Côte

d’Azur region.

LUMA Arles construction site

Entrance to the Mechanical Workshop

John Baldessari, “Laughing Man / Architecture / Angry Man” (1984)

This strategy, both jovial and intense, judging by its principal image, John Baldessari’s “Laughing Man /

Architecture / Angry Man” (1984), began with the launching of the curious show Solaris Chronicles,

curated by Liam Gillick, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Philippe Parreno at the Atelier de la Mécanique

(Mechanical Workshop) a mammoth rave-ready abandoned SNCF workshop edifice.

Solaris Chronicles entrance announced by John Baldessari, “Laughing Man / Architecture / Angry Man”

(1984)

Hans Ulrich Obrist

Solaris Chronicles seemed to me a show as much virtual as actual that morning, as a large amount of

relational flux (and some warm air) was established around the models of Frank Gehry, the architect who

has designed the tower of the Luma Foundation; the center piece of the research and reference facilities,

workshop and seminar rooms, artist studios and presentation spaces. This model took inspiration from the

limestone peaks of Les Alpilles, mountain range that rises from the Rhone Valley northeast of Arles and

was pristinely presented in an adjacent building.

Frank Gehry, “Luma Foundation Arts Resource Centre” (2013)

Frank Gehry, “Luma Foundation Arts Resource Centre” (2013)

Frank Gehry, “Luma Foundation Arts Resource Centre” (2013)

Frank Gehry, “Luma Foundation Arts Resource Centre” (2013)

Frank Gehry, “Luma Foundation Arts Resource Centre” (2013)

Frank Gehry, “Luma Foundation Arts Resource Centre” (2013) detail

As I entered the vast dark cavern for Solaris Chronicles, I immediately was swept up in a very Dionysian

piece of recorded music (already underway) that sounded like Hermann Nitsch’s “Allerheiligensinfonie” -

so I braced myself for something bloody. It turned out, however, to be a piece I could not identify by Pierre

Boulez.

In dimness I could just make out teams of young people wheeling around large-scale models of Gehry’s

earlier architectural models, such as his project for Abu Dhabi and his brilliant Guggenheim Museum in

Bilbao.

A cynic might point out that all this rolling around might appear to some as the re-arranging of deck chairs

on the Titanic, but I found the flow of models fitting for a project as yet still a mix of the mighty and flighty

- where the actual and the virtual aspects of it are still approaching each other, merging.

I liked this Dionysian entrance very much and thought that it was just right for the April event, as it put me

in mind of the ancient Greek Spring Spree of Dionysian ekstasis. However, may I remind you that the

culmination of the Dionysian ekstasis spree was an ecstatic frenzy in which the participants tore apart and

devoured raw a sacrificial animal so as psychological frontiers may be torn down in preparation for an

immersive divine dive into a world of unity; in this case between artists, communists, curators, scientists,

socialists and philanthropists. Just who the sacrificial animal was here, remained the open question.

Frank Gehry model detail in Solaris Chronicles

Frank Gehry model detail of Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao in Solaris Chronicles

Frank Gehry model detail in Solaris Chronicles

There then was a pause for a round of speechifying (there are always numerous speeches at European

cultural events) followed by a blinking Philippe Parreno “Marquee” sound and light show, like those, or

identical to those, in his Anywhere, Anywhere, Out Of The World show at the Palais de Tokyo that closed in

January. Like there, they were kind of cute but yawn inspiring and I noticed most people ignoring them as

they made their way out of the space. I thought they were both gratuitous and overly obvious as related to

Frank Gehry’s architectural models - more about ghostly nostalgia than building a dynamic future.

Philippe Parreno, “Marquee” (2008)

Philippe Parreno, “Marquee” (2008) and a Frank Gehry architectural model, possibly the Guggenheim

Museum, Bilbao

Philippe Parreno, “Marquee” (2008) (above) and a Frank Gehry architectural model (below), possibly the

Bilbao Guggenheim Museum

Yet it was promising to see such people as La Baronness Marion Lambert rubbing shoulders in the dimness

with Rolande Schiavetti, the wife of the city’s Communist mayor Hervé Schiavetti, herself the daughter of

a railway worker.

aperitif in waiting

At the second round of speeches, before the aperitif offered to the entire city (publicity free) (bravo!), a

radiant Madame Schiavetti spoke of her father’s joy at finally seeing the city’s industrial ruins reborn.

Gehry said that he loved France, and that he would try not to screw it up, and the Socialist deputy Michel

Vauzelle praised the alliance of communists, socialists and great Swiss philanthropic capital for

transforming the city through art.

Speechifying: Michel Vauzelle (local Socialist deputy, center left), Maja Hoffmann (center), Frank Gehry

(center right)

Maja Hoffmann (left) and Frank Gehry (center)

I must say it was elevating to experience such a moment in this ancient city, known for its Roman theatre

where bullfights are conducted. We will see if the good cheer and unity lasts soon with the coming scuffle

over Lucien Clergue’s Rencontres d’Arles as four candidates, Christine Ollier, François Cheval, Sam

Stourdzé and Julien Frydman battle it out for control (final decision, by the festival directors, will be

announced April 16th).

I hope it persists. At any rate, congratulations to Arles and the Hoffmanns are in order.

Van Gogh live! runs until August 31st 2014 at Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles 35 rue du Docteur

Fanton, Arles

Solaris Chronicles runs until October 26th 2014 at Atelier de la Mécanique, Parc des Ateliers, Arles

www.luma-arles.org

Rencontres d’Arles opens July 7th, 2014 and closes September 21st 21st, 2014