Cocu ou Marron

The title of this exhibition is in reference to Antonin Artaud, for whom “one cannot name something without becoming immediately cuckold or fooled”, (Conference at the Vieux Colombier, January 13, 1947). In consequence the poet must try to attain the strength of a proper and uncorrupted language. The show “Cocu ou Marron” unites artists that are searching for an ineffable language, one that avoids rational thought. For these artists, visuals, materials and their transitory states, light, and assemblages are active organisms that seem to negotiate with shapelessness and the unconscious. By granting a strong presence to the work, language to an object, the artists push expression into unclassifiable and perturbing zones, sometimes on the verge of surrealism. The films, sculptures, paintings and performances of the invited artists seem to reach poetic spheres where subjectivity and objectivity, natural and artificial, can coincide.

The question of surrealism is posed throughout the exhibition, through the materials used as well as in the creation method. In effect, Borgonovo’s, Eichwald’s and Billy’s sculptures often stem from the improbable convergence of objects taken from reality. These combinations impose on the spectator their obscure grammar and at the same time their forceful expressiveness. The superpositions of images in Marc Hurtado’s films respond to these collages of objects, giving birth through some miracle, to fantastic and obsessive images.

On opening night, the incantatory music of Ghédalia Tazartès and the more senseless music of Donald Suck will echo through the bowels of the art centre. The Genevan label Wildrfid, which produced Donald Suck’s album, will present their productions in the studio of the CAN.

With concerts by Ghédalia Tazartès and Donald Suck
+ Presentation of the record label Wildrfid

Opening June 13 2014

Exhibition from June 14 to July 13 2014

CAN team:
Arthur de Pury, Marie Villemin, Martin Widmer, Marie Léa Zwahlen, Julian Thompson