THE HOUSE IS LOOKING FOR AN ADMIRAL TO RENT

MNAC – The Palace of Parliament, Second Floor Artists: Åbäke, Boris Achour, A Constructed World, Madeleine Aktypi, Karina Bisch, Antonia Carrara, Antonio Contador, Pauline Curnier Jardin, David Evrard, Seulgi Lee, Jeanne Moynot, Guillaume Pellay & Yoan Sorin, Matteo Rubbi, The Bureau of Melodramatic Research, Julien Tiberi, Valentina Traïanova, Giuliana Zefferi
Curator: Marie Bechetoille
MNAC Coordinator: Antigona Silvia Rogozea
Architect: Attila Kim
April 20th – October 9th 2016

“The Impatience to live was great, the disgust applied to all forms of so-called modern civilisation, to its foundation itself, to logic, to language, and the revolt took shapes in which the grotesque and the absurd largely prevailed over aesthetic values.” Tristan Tzara, Interview with Georges-Ribemont Dessaignes, 1958

In 1916, the soirees at the Cabaret Voltaire inaugurated what would become Dada: “unlimited, illogical and eternal” . The dadaists asserted an urge to live, through revolt, negation and derision of all sorts. As an echo to this state of mind, the exhibition “The House Is Looking For An Admiral To Rent” gathers twenty or so contemporary artists who combine performance, sculpture, painting and poetry. As in the simultaneous poem L’Amiral cherche une maison à louer (The Admiral Is Looking For A House To Rent), several languages are superimposed. Words, sounds, gestures and characters compose a poetic and eclectic ensemble. The works invite spectators to imagine, produce or reenact past and future actions. Through spontaneity and chance, fictions are being deployed so that may appear and disappear the grotesque spirits who never cease to change faces and voices.