Sylvie Blocher - To Invent Ourselves Differently

From 23 October 2015 to 31 January 2016, the Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon in Sète will present a major monographic exhibition called To Invent Ourselves Differently devoted to the French artist Sylvie Blocher.

Since the start of the '90s, the French artist Sylvie Blocher has carved an international career and her works have been presented in prestigious institutions including MoMA PS1, New York; MAMBA, Buenos Aires; SFMOMA, San Francisco; MCA, Sydney and more recently the MUDAM, Luxembourg (from 8 November 2014 to 25 May 2015).

It is the first time since her exhibition 1993 that Sylvie Blocher's work is the focus of a large-scale solo exhibition in a French institution.

The exhibition To Invent Ourselves Differently, at the Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, extends over fifteen recent video installations and a participatory project, which pose questions about the construction of identities, otherness, individual or collective speech and porous boundaries between masculine and feminine.

Prior to each of the video devices, a series of drawings produced daily by the artist over the course of a year on the front pages of the Libération newspaper, highlight the way in which the artist carries out a constant coming and going between personal and political domains.

Dreams Have A Langage Part 1, Off the Ground (2014) is an installation that broadcasts a unique journey, blending a video installation and the production of a film co-directed by Sylvie Blocher and Donato Rotunno. In this work, the artist proposed lifting the inhabitants of Luxembourg off the ground—to over 12m high—with the help of a machine made of 4 ropes in the entrance space of the MUDAM. The artist enabled the participants to leave the world for several seconds and see it in a new way.

Other works, like the diptych Change the Scenario (Conversation with Bruce Nauman) (2013) and three videos (Skintone, Colour, Alamo) recently created by the artist in Texas for the San Antonio Museum of Art, explores the conflicting aspects one has to deal with as a result of historical violence.

Reviving sung or slam style speeches and major manifestos in contemporary history (like those of Angela Davis, Communist Manifesto, Barak Obama and Edouard Glissant), the five videos that form the "Speeches" series (2009–12, Mudam Collection) are concerned with the political dimension of the imagination and their promises of happiness.

Conducting "the poetics of relationships," Sylvie Blocher's works often involve external participants who have been invited to speak or act in front of the camera.

Sylvie Blocher therefore shares "her authority as artist" with the participants to create what she calls "Living Pictures."

The participatory project what do you offer? is expressly produced by the artist for her exhibition at the CRAC Languedoc-Roussillon in Sète.

The exhibition To Invent Ourselves Differently presented at the CRAC LR was produced in collaboration with the MUDAM.

Sylvie Blocher was born in France. In 1991 she wrote the manifesto "Disappointed, the bride got herself dressed again" in which she authored the term "Je Nous Sommes" (I We Are) and the idea of Universal - Local Art. These concepts are made manifest in her continuing video series "Living Pictures." In 1997, with the architect/urban planner François Daune, she created Campement Urbain. This group that varies in size focuses on urban change. It was awarded the Evens Foundation International Arts Prize in 2002 and the Australian Award for Urban Design in 2012. She is represented in international collections (SFMOMA, MUDAM, AGO, MUKHA, Pompidou Center, etc.), shows in museums worldwide and participates regularly in international exhibitions.

Press contact Brunswick Arts, Jeanne Grouet / Leslie Compan: cr-languedocroussillon@brunswickgroup.com / T +33 (01) 85 09 11 37 Sylvie Caumet: caumet.sylvie@cr-languedocroussillon.fr / T +33 (04) 67 74 96 79

*(1) Sylvie Blocher, Change the Scenario (Conversation with Bruce Nauman), 2013. HD video installation, double projection, colour, sound, plywood, 6:15 minutes. With Shaun Ross © Sylvie Blocher. Courtesy CNAP. Photo: Rémi Villaggi. (2) Sylvie Blocher, Color, 2014. Video installation, double projection, sound, 6:59 minutes. With Candace Frazor. Courtesy Sylvie Blocher. (3) Sylvie Blocher, Alamo, 2014. HD video installation, sound, plywood, duration: 16:09 minutes. With Rick Frederick, Julia Barbosa Landois, Kitty A. Williams, Ramon Vasquez y Sanchez. Courtesy the artist. © Sylvie Blocher. (4) Sylvie Blocher, Libération, 2013–14. Series of drawings realised between October 2013 and October 2014 on the front pages of the newspaper Libération (selection), Slate paint and chalk on paper, 36 x 56 cm each. Courtesy Sylvie Blocher.