Music takes centre stage at FRAC and LAAC

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Two exhibitions exploring the use of music in art are currently on show at the FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais and at Dunkirk’s LAAC. At the FRAC, exhibiting artists explore the intricacies of sound and experimentation, whilst at the LAAC, visitors can delve into the history and the use of music in the arts from the end of the nineteenth century onwards. Two reflective exhibitions, each exhibiting a complex point of view.

"Sound enters" | FRAC

 

Reflecting on how contemporary artists are engaging with sound and its representation, curators Pascale Cassagnau and Keren Detton have drawn on works from the FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais collection to create “Sound enters.”

 

Sâadane Afif, Tout (1998), sound installation.

Collection du Centre national des arts plastiques, acquisition 1999. Crédit Sylvain Crépin / Frac Nord-Pas de Calais  

 

The exhibition undoubtedly revolves around John Cage’s book Diary : How to improve the world (you will only make matters worse). The American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher, and artist John Cage was a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and the non-standard use of musical instruments. In this workbook, Cage skillfully applies his method of   indetermination through typography, colors, and phrases, placed randomly—described by Cage as "a mosaic of ideas, quotations, words and stories." It was from this Diary, that John Cage produced more than 6 hours of sound recording in 1991.

 

John Cage, Diary : How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse), 1968. 

Collection Frac Nord-Pas de Calais, acquisition 1989. Crédit Sylvain Crépin / Frac Nord-Pas de Calais 

 

Artist Pierre Huyghe uses the example of Lucie Dolène (French voice of Snow White), in his video Snow White Lucie (1997). He draws attention to the dangers of interpenetration between fiction and reality by rendering Dolène, now Snow White, "speechless." Another work that blurs the line between fact and fiction, is Somniloquie (2002) — a  play on words between somnambulism and soliloquy — by Laurent Montaron. With its "dreamlike fiction", the the artist tries to reveal the unconscious sighs and mumbling of sleepers. A large-scale photograph depicts a young woman sleeping while her companion listens to headphones. The sound installation composed of vinyl records diffuses the sound of the young woman's sleep with the sonorous tests of the young man.

 

Laurent Montaron, Somniloquie (2002)

Credit Laurent Montaron. Courtesy Galerie Schleicher + Lange. Collection Frac Nord-Pas de Calais. 

 

When we speak of sound, we are also speaking of silence. This is reflected in the work of American artist Joseph Grigely (born in 1956). Deaf since the age of 11, Grigely’s work touches upon the difficulties of communication when you are missing a sense. Kitchen Conversation presents a kitchen table littered with dishes and food shared among several people. Small pieces of papers scribbled and blackened with questions, are scattered between the plates and the cups, but there are no responses.

 

 

Joseph Grigely, Kitchen Conversation, (1996)

Collection Frac Nord-Pas de Calais. © Joseph Grigely 

 

Finally, music, the sound of pure abstraction; definable only in its ability to evoke emotions through memories — the subject of works by Portuguese Ângela Ferreira (born in 1958). Through photographs and a video, Sons de la mine (Douchy-les-Mines et Lumumbashi), Ferreira confronts the memories of the mining world. The mining world, its fear and harshness, is revived in the photographs depicting the musical instruments of the Municipal Harmony of Douchy-les-Mines, while a soundtrack mixes songs of the miners of Douchy with those of Lubumbashi in Congo.

 

Ângela Ferreira, Photographie (détail), 2016

Production CRP / © Ângela Ferreira. Collection Frac Nord-Pas de Calais 

 

At LAAC, a historiographical journey

 

Organized by composer and musicologist Jean-Yves Bosseur, the exhibition "Music to see" at the LAAC is educational and scientific, and incorporated a guided tour by the curator.

Since the 19th century, artists have tried to represent music in paintings or in sculpture. A Czech artist, arriving in Paris in 1896 with ties to Blavatsky's theosophical society, František Kupka (1871-1957) concentrated her research on light and color as mystico-musical truths. Later, in 1932, the painter Henry Valensi founded Musicalism — an advocate for "the musicalization of the arts". Then came Auguste Herbin (1882-1960), pioneer of geometric abstraction and author of numerous works on the plastic representation of musical notes. Herbin's plastic alphabet is simple: he assigns a musical note, or a letter to each form and color, aiming for the universal.

Divided in several sections (“Synesthesia & cultural correspondences, “Rhythm between time and space”, “Signs and notation” and “Interaction”) “Music to see” offers a panorama of plastic experimentations interweaving music, art and sound. In a certain way, the LAAC puts the focus on the distinction between music and sound: sound is an “auditory sensation triggered by an acoustic wave”, or the “result of a perception”. Peter Vogel’s work is particularly significant in this regard; his towers made of wire, electronic components and photosensitive sensors only respond to movement or sound, truly coming to life through interaction.

 

Joseph Grigely, Kitchen Conversation, (1996)

Collection Frac Nord-Pas de Calais. © Joseph Grigely 

 

“Sound Enters”, (Le son entre) at FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais, until December 31, 2017.

“Music to see” (Musique à voir) at Dunkirk’s LAAC until September 17, 2017.

 

Courtesy Fonds régional d'art contemporain du Nord-Pas de Calais, 2016, Dunkerque © Ville de Dunkerque