FRED FOREST EXHIBITION AT THE CENTRE POMPIDOU, PARIS

INVITATION

FRED FOREST SCHEDULES A NESTED EXHIBITION AT THE CENTRE POMPIDOU

For the participation:
http://participatioforest.com

IN ANTICIPATION OF HIS RETROSPECTIVE PROGRAMMED AT THE CENTRE POMPIDOU, PARIS, IN JUNE 2017, FRED FOREST HAS ANNOUNCED AN INTENTION TO PERSONALLY PRESENT A PRELIMINARY EXHIBITION ON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 1st 2015 AT 4:00 p.m. on the 5th floor But the performance takes place on the 4th floor at the bottom of internal stairs
(Entrance is free)

For the artist the operation is an attempt to provide a perspective on the manner in which exhibitions are likely to run in venues such as these during the latter part of the 3rd millennium. His approach projects artists as free users of museum space to show their work without the involvement of conservation officers, commissioners and state officials.

Fred Forest will introduce a special concept during the commentary: "OSI, L’OEUVRE-SYSTEME INVISIBLE" (literally, the invisible work-system) The unconventional preview will be held in the contemporary galleries on the 5th floor of the museum.

The artist was said to be at loggerheads in 2015 with the President of the Centre Pompidou, Alain Seban. The photo displayed here may come therefore as a surprise, contradicting the claims that were once widely circulated. There has actually been a 360° about-turn in relations a result of the implicit understanding between the two individuals who rely on their intelligence and pragmatic sense. Both personalities rose above the confines of their respective responsibilities and requirements to decide by mutual agreement to sign the Peace of the Braves. With the support of Serge Lasvignes, the new President of the Centre Pompidou and Bernard Blistène, the Director of MNAM, the agreement was sealed by the project to hold an exhibition in June 2017.

Exercising his freedom and legitimate prerogative as an artist, Forest has put forward a plan to do things differently by organizing a 2-stage event. For more than forty years Fred Forest’s stance against the art institution and the market was one of exemplary protest. One may regret his change in attitude, just as one may berate the fact that officials of the institution now accept to support a rebellious artist. In truth, pragmatism has triumphed over dogged rebellion, and, in response to what he perceives as the widespread inertia of the world of art and its compromises, the artist has chosen in total innocence to maintain his distance while reaping benefits for his own image.
The freedom of action characterizing the present announcement supports this posture. The institution and the world at large had almost forgotten the true prodigious profile of this extraordinary pioneer, mostly depicting him as assertive and aggressive. It is not recommended in this environment to say out loud what everyone thinks in private! The opportunity to rectify public opinion and reassert his creative vigour via the invisible work system (OSI for “Oeuvre-Système Invisible”) was too tempting to resist. Today the Centre Pompidou is offering him an exceptional sound box on a plate... thanks to his own initiative. An initiative that the artist intends to fully exercise. The action not only confirms his international stature but also constitutes a fitting finale to a remarkable career progressively recognized in Brazil, Argentina, the USSR, the USA, India, Israel, The Lebanon, Zimbabwe as well as several European countries – to finally now take centre stage in his own land at the Centre Pompidou in June 2017.

The presentation proposed by the artist on the 5th floor of the Museum illustrates an essay he published in L'Harmattan in 2006 under the title "L’oeuvre-système invisible", a historical extension following up on the publications “L’Art sociologique” (Sociological Art, 1974), “l’Esthétique de la communication” (the Aesthetics of Communication, 1983) and “ l’Esthétique relationnelle” (Relational Aesthetics).
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"OSI " DEMONSTRATION DURING AN UNCOVENTIONAL PREVIEX AT BEAUBOURG

“OSI” DEMONSTRATION DURING AN UNCONVENTIONAL PREVIEW AT BEAUBOURG

OSI (Invisible work system from the French “L’oeuvre-système invisible”) OR RELATIVE VIEWS ON THE OBJECTIVE REALITY OF "TANGIBLE" AND "INTANGIBLE" THINGS

AN OPENING WITH A DIFFERENCE AT BEAUBOURG

To demonstrate his criticism of objective physical reality, the relativity of our perceptions and the social reality of art and its compromises, the artist has no need of the sophisticated digital technologies that constitute a current and growing trend in art as it becomes techno-science centric to its own detriment. We face a situation where operators have become more engineers than artists, let alone philosophers. This situation can be explained from a sociological perspective as the consequence of the technocratic ideology that increasingly pervades our time, so that art becomes technology itself, to be represented as such, by a slow and progressive substitution, which is none other than the hallmark of the era we live in.


For this demonstration the artist will feel no need to resort to nanotechnology, quartz or black holes. His tools will be his own eye and a dose of humor appropriate to the context and the place he has chosen to make his statement, i.e. the Centre Pompidou. He aims to clarify the use of OSI to all those who have the right dose of common sense and honesty to appreciate its main virtues.

The object that will be used in the demonstration is the common white sticker that can be seen above. At a distance of 50 cm the label is visible to everyone, even those who suffer from short-sightedness; at 2 m it remains visible to a discerning eye and to farsighted people, while at a distance of 15 m it becomes invisible to all .... At this point some people will even deny its very existence!

The walls of contemporary galleries in Beaubourg, regardless of which rooms you find yourself in, are studded with OSI. It’s up to the visitor to discover where these works are displayed. And when you see one, you must grab your pen or that of your nearest neighbor, indicate it with your eye and circle it lightly. And for those who want to put their own OSI in the Museum, go to the opening with a whole box of labels. You can also distribute some then to your neighbors that have forgotten them at home before coming to the OSI presentation.

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IN TOTAL FREEDOM OF ACTION

IN TOTAL FREEDOM OF ACTION

AN EVENT AT THE INSTITUTION ENTIRELY CONCEIVED AT THE INITIATIVE OF THE ARTIST

By organizing this opening at the institution independently and at his own initiative, the artist expresses four fundamental elements of his practice:

1-His critical distance from the leaders of the institution with whom he readily accepts a fruitful dialogue, provided it is balanced and never eliminates his freedom of speech and action. This opening is proof of this precept.

2-His loyalty to systemic works and performances that go beyond the traditional forms of so-called "high art", i.e. works that galleries and museums display, and his will to see the forms implanted everywhere in non-commercial and commercial places, regardless of whether these are urban areas, media placements used for general communication and the diverse options afforded by cyberspace.

3- His strong support for art revolving around participation, exchange, physical action and mental reaction as the final substrate.

4- His attentiveness and constant adaptation to changing technologies and techniques of communication and to the disruption they cause.
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