Reversibility - A Theater of De-Creation

A play by Pierre Bal-Blanc, staged by the author with Andrea Büttner, Esther Ferrer, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Sanja Ivekovic, Ben Kinmont, Jiří Kovanda, Marcello Maloberti, Teresa Margolles, Emilie Parendeau, Martha Rosler, Santiago Sierra, Slaven Tolj, Isidoro Valcárcel Medina.

"The story of de-creation reminds us that art is anti-technique. If I have organized this de-creation as a theater, it is not only to extend the theatrical stage of disfigurement, described by Jacques Rancière in his history of abstract painting, to all artistic practices. It is also to demonstrate the reversibility of creation and de-creation, which are part of artwork in any circumstance, at the moment in which the creative process is qualified as a work of art and at its disqualification as a product or cultural fetish.

The title 'Reversibility' lays down the bases of this thought, to which Marcel Duchamp proposed a solution long ago in the form of a question: Can you make works that are not of art?

'Reversibility – A Theater of De-Creation' proposes a reverse process of Duchamp's statement: Can you make art that is not a work?" (PBB)

Reversibility is a project in three parts. The first stage, which took place at Frieze Art Fair in London in 2008, was framed by David Lamelas' historical piece Dos Espacios Modificados (1967). It was followed by a second stage at CAC Brétigny in 2010, organized around Floating Wall, one of the last pieces produced by Robert Breer. The third one, presented at Peep-Hole, Milan, in 2012, will follow the rhythm of Isidoro Valcárcel Medina's piece, No Necesita Titulo (1990–2012), which is based on the delivery of daily meals coming from charity organizations from the city in which the work is presented.

On the occasion of the exhibition a catalogue containing the entire Reversibility – A Theater of De-Creation project will be published by Mousse Publishing.

Reversibility – A Theater of De-Creation is part of Six Ways to Sunday, an annual programme in which Peep-Hole dedicates an event to a partnership with a foreign art institution, becoming its temporary satellite project room. After Museion Bolzano in 2010 and CAC Vilnius in 2011, the 2012 event is devoted to CAC Brétigny.

Peep-Hole is an non-profit organization dedicated to contemporary art in Milan. Peep-Hole wants to encourage people to take a closer look at each artist's practice through an agile program that moves between the format of exhibitions, publications, lectures and conversations, always intended to foreground the artists.

CAC Brétigny – the art centre of Brétigny is a place for contemporary art. The definition and the development of its missions have influenced the functions of its space that shall be devoted to production, exhibition and documentation and kept on being in a movement of permanent evolution. All along the programming of shows, collaborations with artists kept on developing new projects as means of creation and education, facilitating social relationships between the inside of the art space and the neighborhood. A significant number of art works realized for the art centre and organized around the idea of "Phalanstère" are permanently or alternatively visible.

Reversibility
A Theater of De-Creation
Chapter III

Künstler: Andrea Büttner, Esther Ferrer, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Sanja Ivekovic, Ben Kinmont, Jiri Kovanda, Marcello Maloberti, Teresa Margolles, Emilie Parendeau, Martha Rosler, Santiago Sierra, Slaven Tolj, Isidoro Valcarcel Medina