La Vie Moderne: 13th Lyon Biennale

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“La Vie Moderne” is the theme for this year’s edition of the Lyon Biennale, running from September 10 through January 3 next year, exploring what made modernity, modernism, and modern masters across history. Three exhibitions will form the biennale.

Conceived by Ralph Rugoff, guest curator of the 13th Lyon Biennale, “La Vie Moderne” will bring together 60 artists from 28 countries and will propose a new definition of the word modernity. The biennale’s artistic director, Thierry Raspail, is using Bruno Latour’s essay as a starting point: Nous n’avons jamais été modernes (1991) (We were never modern), which will be reinterpreted to underline the premise “And now we are neo, alter, anti, pro, folk, late and so on. Whatever, we are modern without being modern; and this is the state of artwork of today.”

Rethinking modernity through the biennale is an ambitious task, as is creating a direct link with recent headlines and maintaining a link with the past. Congolese artist Sammy Baloji will be giving his own interpretation of the political upheavals ongoing in his country. Through photographs and videos, he relives the consequences — sometimes unexplored — of the removal of valuable minerals from the Congo, and the Chinese hold over the nation.

Nguyen Trinh Thi touches upon a similar theme in his collection of images and souvenirs, binding the links between social environment and Vietnam’s politics. In turn, Ahmet Öğut addresses the flow of migration in Turkey, and its impact on workmen and laborers.
 


The artists included in the lineup for “La Vie Moderne” include Michael Armitage, Kader Attia, Darren Bader, Sammy Baloji, Yto Barrada, Hicham Berrada, Camille Blatrix, Michel Blazy, Mohamed Bourouissa, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Nina Canell, George Condo, Jeremy Deller, Simon Denny, Jessica Diamond, Thomas Eggerer, Cyprien Gaillard, Fabien Giraud & Raphaël Siboni, Guan Xiao, Anthea Hamilton, He Xiangyu, Camille Henrot, Hannah Hurtzig, Cameron Jamie, Johannes Kahrs, Lai Chih-Sheng, Emmanuelle Lainé, Laura Lamiel, Liu Wei, Andreas Lolis, Magdi Mostafa, Daniel Naudé, Mike Nelson, Nguyen Trinh Thi, Otobong Nkanga, Katja Novitskova, Ahmet Öğut, George Osodi, Anna Ostoya, Tony Oursler, Marina Pinsky, Julien Prévieux, Jon Rafman, Miguel Angel Rios, Ed Ruscha, Massinissa Selmani, Marinella Senatore, Avery K. Singer, Lucie Stahl, Tatiana Trouvé, Andra Ursuta, Klaus Weber, T. J. Wilcox, Haegue Yang, Yuan Goang-Ming and Arseniy Zhilyaev.

The biennale’s second exhibition, curated by Thierry Raspail, is entitled “Ce fabuleux monde modern” (“This fabulous modern world”). Showcasing thirty works from the MAC Lyon collection, featuring artists including: Marina Abramovic and Ulay, Terry Allen, Laurie Anderson, Etienne Bossut, Mathieu Briand, Daniel Firman, Henry Flynt, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jean-François Gavoty, Roberto Jacoby, William Kentridge, Lucia Koch, Le Gentil Garçon, Marlène Mocquet, Hans Neleman, Nam June Paik, Eduardo Paolozzi, Peter Robinson, Thomas Ruff, Ed Ruscha, Jesus Rafael Soto and Daniel Spoerri.

Finally, “Rendez-vous 15”, created in 2002 by Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, is an international platform spotlighting talents of the younger generation. It brings together ten artists (either of French nationality or artists residing in France), ten artists selected by ten biennales across the world. “Rendez-vous” invites audiences to discover the biennales across  DakarFukuoka, Gwangju, IstanbulKochi-MuzirisHavanaLos AngelesShanghaiSharjah and Thessaloniki.

Artists at “Rendez-vous” include: Rathin Barman, Gaëlle Choisne, Ruth Cornelisse, Fabrice Croux, Sidy Diallo, Adélaïde Feriot, Nicolas Garait-Leavenworth, Lola Gonzàlez, Ran Huang, Terae Keiichiro, Maxime Lamarche, Jumana Manna, Daniel Otero Torres, David Posth-Kohler, Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa, Johann Rivat, Daniel R. Small, Anastasis Stratakis, Celia & Yunior and Alaric Garnier.

The biennale will also feature two platforms “Laboratoires: Résonnance”, focusing on the galleries and art centres in the Rhône-Alpes region, and Veduta which questions the link between creation and reception, all under Thierry Raspail’s watchful eye.


13th Lyon Biennale
La Vie Moderne
September 10 - January 3, 2016


Nguyen Trinh Thi/ courtesy of the artist