Press release
MICROPOLITIQUES
Exhibition from February 6 to April 30, 2000
Curators : Paul Ardenne, Christine Macel
Atelier van Lieshout, Joseph Beuys, Sylvie Blocher, Marc Boucherot, Daniel Buren, André Cadere, Jimmie Durham, Robert Filliou, Kendell Geers, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Gregory Green, Carsten Höller, Joël Hubaut, Regine Kolle, Saverio Lucariello, Florence Manlik, Gordon Matta-Clark, David Medalla/Adam Nankervis, Philippe Meste, Name Diffusion, Hervé Paraponaris, Dan Peterman, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Tobias Rehberger, Franck Scurti, Simon Starling, Uri Tzaig, Nicolas Uriburu, Jacques Villeglé

Micropolitiques is a group show that makes no claims of being exhaustive. This exhibition is devoted to forms of contemporary art that invite viewers to think about politics on a fragmentary or “molecular” social level. That is, forms of art whose approach to political questions favors micro-arrangements, micro- or local actions—in a word, anything that disturbs or acts upon an individual closest to home, so to speak, without trying to promote slogans, utopias, injunctions to get involved. It is a kind of art then that points not to action strictly speaking, but to proposals that constitute genuine “vanishing lines,” as Deleuze and Guattari put it, possibilities that are offered for modifying rhythms and styles of living, although “they take shape as best they can rather than imply omnipotence.”
Traditional political art, which developed under the canonic forms of engagement and denunciation, went through a certain revival in the 1980s. Such art, however, has since distanced itself from the aesthetic and political realities of today. A good number of contemporary artists who are involved in the social or public space, or within the political sphere itself, have understood the lesson to be had from the risk threatening a political art that remains “classic” in its forms of expression—“macropolitical” by nature—that is, the risk of being either misinterpreted or appropriated by other movements. Their stance, the modes of inscription that they choose, always taking care to place themselves in the aesthetic or formal dimension, have evolved accordingly, for they themselves have lost all illusion of remaking the world or having to dispense the Truth; they have come back to a political discourse that is closer to reality, one that is devoid of authoritarianism and grandiloquence. This is a belated, though judicious way of returning to the etymological meaning of “Political,” in other words, what began with the city, its function and collective being, but considered from the following point of view: Not “walking ahead” (the meaning of arkhein, the original term designating politics as command), but rather “walking with.”
The show is made up of both an “historical” part and a contemporary section. No attempt has been made to mount a chronological presentation however. Works from the 1960s and the 1990s are displayed side by side, while several pieces by one and the same artist may be found scattered at various points throughout the exhibition. The show also includes a space devoted to documentation where a number of low tables display facsimiles of original documents relating to the historical section. Micropolitiques has been deliberately laid out according to a certain rhythm that alternates areas of highly concentrated displays (a collection of “political” torn posters by Jacques Villeglé dating from the years 1950-90, for example), with others devoted to a single work of art (Gordon Matta-Clark’s exceptional Food, Dan Peterman’s Ground Cover, etc.) The thread running throughout the show comprises a series of “sticks” (Cadere, Durham, Scurti, etc.) and “balls” which appear over and over in the presentation. There is Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Sculpture de passage (a "traveling" work that was originally moved by the artist from one Turin gallery to the next when he was showing there), Uri Tzaig’s Paper Ball, or Kendell Geers’ TW Stolen Idea. These pieces constitute so many links to both aesthetic meaning and the very core of a show that aims to present different micropolitical “families.” Certain singular works of art are likewise reevaluated here (Uriburu); others offer meaning through their humor, occasionally from the most unexpected quarters (Lucariello as well as a surprising Beuys playing the part of a crooner...) Finally, the significant input of young artists in the show, including works by Simon Starling, Marc Boucherot, Gregory Green or Regine Kolle, offers striking proof of both the active continuity and the topicality of micropolitical forms of art, which are attracting growing interest at present.

The curators
Art historian, Paul Ardenne has written a number of studies of today's art, notably Art, l'âge contemporain - une histoire des arts plastiques à la fin du Xxe siècle (Editions du Regard, 1997). A regular contributor to art magazines, including art press, he worked on the 1997 show Interplace Access in Milan (Via Farini), devoted to the "mavericks" of art.

Christine Macel teaches at the Ecole du Louvre and works at the Délégation aux Arts Plastiques (Ministry of Culture). She organized the exhibition Transit - 60 artistes nés après 60 (Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, 1997), and has been chosen to curate the Printemps de cahors festival in both 1999 and 2000.

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST
Atelier van Lieshout
Bathroom Unit, 1 993 movable bathroom unit wood, polyester resin, colored coat gel 240 x 180 x 400 cm

Joseph Beuys
Sonne statt Reagan, 1982
Audio tape, 3 '3"

Sylvie Blocher
Living Pictures/Gens de Calais, 1997
video installation, 30'

Marc Boucherot
Pièces à conviction, 1993
Two exploded chrome gas bottles
Sinister location "EmmaUs", Pointe rouge, Marseille
Pièce à conviction, 1992
Exploded chrome gas bottle Sinister location "Emmaüs", Pointe rouge, Marseille
Coup d'assure, 1992
Two exploded chrome gas bottles Color shot (40 x 70 cm) plane photograph of the shop. Sinister location "Conforama" Plan de Campagne

Daniel Buren
Documentary space, 2000
Souvenir photographs, works in situ, slide show

André Cadere
5 barres de bois rond, 1970-71
29,4 cm, 0 1,5 cm
Barres de bois rond, 1977
178 cm, 0 2,5 cm, 52 segments

Jimmie Durham
Le bâton pour marquer le centre du monde à Reims, 1996
Wood, mirror, text
Arc de triomphe individuel, 1996
Painted wood, metal hinges

Robert Filliou
Research in Dynamics and Comparative Statics (16704 cm2 de Pré-territoire de la République Géniale), 1973, Editions Lebeer-Hossmann (30 ex.)
Wood suitcase with ink and color pencil on cardboard and glued sheets of paper, adhesive tape, cassette, 28 notebooks, brass, wire, string; 13x32x49,8 cm

Kendell Geers
Title Withheld (Self Portrait), 1999
édition 5/5 9,5 x 7,5 x 6 cm
goulot de bouteille brisée, situation
Title Withheld (R.I.P.), 2000
situation, dimensions variables
Title Withheld (Stolen Idea), 1995-2000
plasticine, situation, dimensions variables

Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Untitled (NRA - National Rifle Association), 1990
Offset print on red paper (endless copies), (at ideal height) 50,8 x 84,5 x 66,8 cm

Gregory Green
Gregnik Proto I, 1996
Aluminum, Plexiglas, hardware, stereo radio waves transmitter 55,8 x 30,5 x 30,5 cm
New Free State of Caroline, 1996 Flag, plate, brass, thread, grommets

Carsten Holler
Kinder Demonstrieren für die Zukunft, 1992
Slide show, installation

Joël Hubaut
Burô Orange pour l'Agence Clom-Trok Orange (agence C.L.O.M.I.K.), 2000
Installation, variable dimensions

Régine Kolle
Seaside, 1996
Oil on canvas, 28 x 36 cm
Zombie Today, 1999
Oil on canvas, 206 x 121 cm
New Years Morning Bombing, 1999
Oil on canvas, 73,5 x 134 cm
Puker, 1999
Oil on canvas, 62 x 84 cm
Washing, 1999
Oil on canvas, 60,5 x 100 cm

Saverio Lucariello
Micropâlepolitique, 1999
Vidéo, 7'

Florence Manlik
Mono Dope, 2000
Installation, variable dimensions

Gordon Matta-Clark
Selection of pieces Presented within the framework of the Food exhibition, organised by Catherine Morris at the Westfälisches Landesmuseum for Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Munster. Front pages of Avalanche, films, interviews, etc. See details in the Micropolitiques catalogue.

David Medalla
A Stitch in time, 1968/2000
Cloth, reel, active installation, variable dimensions
The Marriage of Likeness
Performance with Adam Nankervis
Performed on 05.02.2000 at Magasin

Philippe Meste
GUNPOWER I, 1997
GUNPOWER II, 1997
GUNPOWER III, 1997
GUNPOWER VI, 1999
Mixed media and box
BAGPOWER II (Technics Noir), 1999
BAGPOWER IV (Burning), 1999
BAGPOWER VII (Work Bleu), 1999
Mixed media

Name Diffusion
cartographes sans lieu
www.moneynations.ch/cartographes, 2000
Website, web corner

Hervé Paraponaris
Stolen. Island, 2000
Color Nova Print edition, 300 x 140 cm

Dan Peterman
With Carrying Case Series, 1990/1992
Five suitcases with internal molding, resin, polystyrene, car paint 58 x 50,5 x 18 cm ; 45,5 x 18 x 12,5cm; 41,5 x 35 x 24 cm ; 30,5 x 24,5 x 6,5cm; 27,5 x 11 x 5,5 cm
Ground Cover, 1995
Recycled plastic bricks, three wooden pallet, variable dimensions

Michelangelo Pistoletto
Scultura da passegio, 1966-1995 Styrophore and paper, diam 100 cm
NB: the S cultura do passegio presented in the exhibition is a replica of the 1966 one.
Buongiorno Michelangelo, 1967
Black and white movie by Ugo Nespolo transferred on video.

Tobias Rehberger
Bibliothèque horizontale, 1999 (Magasin version), 2000
Six ceramic ashtrays, eleven paper lamps, books, variable dimensions

Franck Scurti
The City Is Not a Tree, 1999
Illegal billsticking in Grenoble, 2000
Color offset on paper, 118 x 173 cm
Caducée III, 1997
Cans, cover made with boa skin, 192,5 cm, diam 6,5 cm
Caducée IV, 1997
Cans, cover made with boa skin, 90,5 cm, diam 6,5 cm
Caducée V, 1997
Cans, cover made with boa skin, 159 cm, diam 5,2cm
Caducée VI, 1997
Cans, cover made with boa skin 133 cm, diam 5,2cm
Sandwich, 1999
Glass door (210 x 80 cm), wood handles and keys

Simon Starling
Work made-ready for Kunsthalle Bern:
A Charles Eames Aluminium Group chair remade using the metal from a Marin Sausalito bicycle
A Marin Sausalito bicycle remade using the metal from a Charles Eames Aluminium Group chair, 1996
Various materials, 60 x 60 x 90 cm and 190 x 100 x 25 cm

Uri Tzaig
infini, 1998
Vidéo, 20'
Paper Ball, 1994
Paper, paint, adhesive tape, 0 56 cm

Nicolas Uriburu
International Coloration of the waters La Seine, Green Paris, 1970
Photography, 60 x 100 cm
International Coloration of the waters East River, Green New York, 1970
Photography, 60 x 100 cm
International Coloration of the waters Rio de la Plata, Green Buenos Aires, 1970
Photography, 60 x 100 cm
International Coloration of the waters Canal Grande, Green Venice, 1970
Photography, 60 x 100 cm
Coloration, 1973
Six serigraphs, 75 x 55 cm
Edition 107/111

Jacques Villeglé
Rue Notre-Dame des Champs, 22.10.1958
Slashed posters mounted on canvas, 60 x 100 cm
Rue Léopold Robert (La Succession), 18.01.1964
Slashed posters mounted on canvas, 82 x 49 cm
Rue Archereau, 8.04.1970
Slashed posters mounted on canvas, 73 x 60 cm
Rue au Maire, 13.11.1972
Slashed posters mounted on canvas, 116 x 89 cm
Rue Pierre Lescot, 3.05.1981
Slashed posters mounted on canvas, 224 x 160 cm
107, rue Beaubourg, 04.1995
Slashed posters mounted on canvas, 195 x 117 cm

THE ARTISTS

ATELIER VAN LIESHOUT
Established in 1995
JOEP VAN LIESHOUT
Born in 1963, in Ravenstein. Lives and works in Rotterdam since 1987.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati; 1997,Museum; Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; 1996, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles; 1995, Galerie Bob van; Orsouw, Zurich; 1994, Galerie Roger Pailhas, Paris; 1993, Castello Di Rivara, Turin; 1990, Museum; Boilmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; 1988, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam.

Bibliography (selection): 1998, P.J. Hoefnagels, M.J. Noordervliet, B.O. Lootsma, exhibition catalogue Atelier van Lieshout - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (English edition) - Le Bon, La Brute et Le Truand (French edition) - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (German edition), Les Abattoirs-Toulouse, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Atelier van Lieshout-NAi Publishers, Rotterdam; 1997, B. van Lootsma, P. de Jonge, exhibition catalogue Atelier van Lieshout - A Manual / Em Handbuch, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Museum Boilmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern.

AVL-Ville
For some time Atelier van Lieshout (AVL) has been busy trying to realize AVL-Ville. With AVL-Ville, Atelier van Lieshout wants to create its own utopian village, a free state where the people from AVL can do what they want. AVL-Ville contains artworks that can be used to live a more or less selfsufficient life. (...) The red bathroom that is exhibited at Micropolitiques, could very well be a part of AVL-Ville. It is a loose cabin that can be moved easily and placed anywhere you want.
Atelier van Lieshout (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

JOSEPH BEUYS
1921, Krefeld - 1986, Dusseldorf.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1994, Joseph Beuys, Centre d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou, Paris; 1985, Is it about a bicycle?, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris; 1982, Dernier espace avec intros 1964 1982, Galerie Liliane et Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris/Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London; 1976, Fond IV/4, Galerie Schmela, Dusseldorf; 1 96,4, Galerie René Block, Berlin.

Bibliography (selection): 1994, exhibition catalogue Joseph Beuys, Centre d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris; 1992, Eric Michaud, "La fin de l'art selon Beuys" in La Fin du salut par l'image, Editions Jacqueline Chambon, Nîmes, pp. 170 sqq.; 1988, Joseph Beuys, Par la présente, je n'appartiens plus à l'art (texts and interviews selected by Max Reithmann), Editions de l'Arche, Paris; 1987, Artstudio, Paris, n° 4 (special Joseph Beuys), Spring; 1985, Joseph Beuys, Reden über das eigene Land: Deutschland 3, Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich; Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, Joseph Beuys - Is it about a bicycle?, Marval/Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, Sarenco-Strazzer, Verona ; 1984, Joseph Beuys, Conférence de Cambridge (vidéo, 120 ', 1 98,4, with the collaboration of Caroline Tisdall); L. De Domizio, B. Durini, I. Tomassoni, Incontro con Beuys, Pescara.

The question must at last be raised, even if it is considered sacrilegious by orthodox Beuysians. So I ask: did Joseph Beuys laugh? I beg you to take this matter seriously. For there is a risk that this aspect of Beuys's nature and activity will soon be drowned forever in the rising sea of scientific, pseudoscientific and esoteric publications about him. To remedy this, we must build dikes, if only out of biographical honesty. I can attest: yes, Joseph Beuys laughed; yes, he had a sense of humour, albeit black humour. He also had a great sense of irony and satire, and was very good at taking the mickey. It was a fine thing to see, and to laugh with him. This was something I experienced repeatedly in interviews, lectures and public debates. Just as he was capable of singing German pop- songs at the top of his voice, so he could roar with laughter - and this was perfectly in keeping with his image (...)
Heinz Stachelhaus, Bevys's Laugh / in Joseph Beuys [cat.], Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1994, p. 358.

SYLVIE BLOCHER

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, Videoviewpoints, illustrated conference, MOMA, New York; 1998, Living Pictures, York Gallery, Toronto; 1997, Gens de Calais, Le Channel, Calais; 1993, Mise à vue, Abbaye Saint-André, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Meymac; 1988, De Appel, Amsterdam.

Bibliography (selection): 1998, Ami Barak and Sylvie Blocher, "interview by e-mail," in exhibition catalogue Them(selves), York Gallery, Toronto ; 1995, Sylvie Blocher, Elle et Lui, Editions Actes SudCrestet Centre d'Art; Living Pictures / A quel point puis-je te faire confiance?, Editions Roger Pailhas, Paris; 1992, Sylvie Blocher, Année Zéro, Carré d'Art, Editions Actes Sud, Nîmes.

The "micropolitical" form that I practise is my Living Pictures activity (1993), which combines with a "ula" (universal local art) attitude. Letting faces speak means letting the model speak and envisaging the relation between the artist and the model from the postulate of shared authority. The Living Pictures are interested in the singularity of the word, as against the efficiency of discourse. (...) Sometimes, after long hours of filming, the amazement of speech suddenly surges forth. When the models that the participants identify with and try to imitate fade and they become their own models. Behind the camera there is nobody but this absence of the other that they speak to and soon get the measure of. (...) I do not represent them but present that which suddenly overflows from them. Their radical singularity. (...) Having a "ula" attitude means making a work with the same artistic device in different geographical spots. It means avoiding the "truth of art".
Sylvie Blocher (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

MARC BOUCHEROT
Born in 1968, in Annecy. Lives and works in Marseilles.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, Muito' Émilio, présentation test d'un triporteur pendant la fête du Panier (structure d'économie parallèle, licence V ambulante conduisible dès quatorze ans sans permis),Marseilles; 1997, Muito, Le Hors-Là (with Sofiane Mammeri and Yann Daumas), Marseilles (Dix jours de l'art contemporain); 1996, Opération papillon (with Jacky Halter), Musée de la Vieille Charité, Marseilles; 1995, Opération papillon, traversée du Surinam, au Brésil par la forêt guyanaise, ancienne épicerie Camopi, Guyane, Mairie de Kourou, Guyane Française (with Jacky Halter); 1994, Grand concours de boules carrées, Galerie de Marseille, Marseilles.

Bibliography (selection): 1997, Rudy Ricciotti, "Architecture pour le plaisir", Connaissance des Arts, Paris, n° 541, August, p. 98; 1994, Jean-Yves Jouannais, "Avis de tempête", Art Press, Paris, December, n° 197, p. 82; 1992, Le Moule à gaufres, Revue de littérature, Editions Méréal.

For me, creation is an act of citizenship. To justify being called a citizen with regard to others does not mean producing beauty or indulging, or simply voting, but reflecting a state of affairs. The art object then becomes a tool of education, provocation and insurrection that contributes to the development of a collective consciousness. (...) The artistic principle I use is that of displacing objects, or even persons. Going beyond this simple displacement, it will make it possible to ask questions, between the work and its relation to society. To take a specific example, Muito was created during a six-month residency in a favela in Recife (in Brazil's Nordeste). It consists of mobile food and drinks stall complete with sound system.
Marc Boucherot (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

DANIEL BUREN
Born in 1938, in Boulogne-Billancourt. Lives and works in situ.

ANDRE CADERE
1934, Varsaw - 1978, Paris.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1996, Rétrospective André Cadere, Kunstverein München, Munich; 1992, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; 1989, The Institute for Contemporary Art, P.S. 1. Museum, Long Island city, New York; 1977, Établir le désordre, Ghislain Mollet-Viéville, Paris; 1975, Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris; 1973, Galerie des Locataires, Paris.

Bibliography (selection): 1992, André Cadere, Editions La Chambre (exhibitions P.S.1., New York, 1989 and Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1992); exhibition catalogue Yvon Lambert collectionne, Musée d'art moderne, Villeneuve d'Ascq; 1989, exhibition catalogue Art conceptuel, une perspective, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris; 1975, André Cadere, Présentation d'un travail Utilisation d'un travail, Hosmann, Hamburg and MIL, Brussels.

Round wooden sticks made by assembling painted segments whose length is equal to their diameter. A mistake is systematically inserted into the sequence of colours. This method has been in use since 1970.
André Cadere, Présentation d'un travail - Utilisation d'un travail, 1975, note 1

1. It is becoming clear that a round wooden bar cannot be shown just anywhere: it needs a special site, special authorisation. And at the same time it is a work that is not dependent on any private or public wall, that requires no nails, no gluing or colouring or other systems of hanging.
2. However, exactly the same work can be hung on the wall - and even, among others, on a gallery wall - and fixed or placed in all possible ways in spaces dedicated to 'classic' works. For it is important that this "classic" power should not be able to marginalise my works, to cordon them off in an "avantgarde" zone.
3. Since it can be presented in a classic way, it should also be presented in such a way, in accordance with its own possibilities and indeed so as to take away any hint of "revolutionary idealism". It should not be thought that it is outside the gallery system or against anyone, etc. I show my pieces whatever the obstacles, without any other target than themselves".
André Cadere, Letter to Yvon Lambert, June 54, 1978.

JIMMIE DURHAM
Born in 1940, U.S.A. Lives and works in Berlin.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, Drawings, Anders Tornberg Gallery, Lund; 1998, Between the Furniture and the Building (Between a Rock and a Hard Place), Kunstverein München, Munich; 1997, Museum of Contemporary Art, Porn, Finland; 1996, La leçon d'anatomie (A Progress Report), F.R.A.C. Champagne-Ardenne, Rheims; 1994, Micheline Szwajcer Gallery, Antwerp; 1993, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels and Institute of contemporary Arts, London; 1992, Nicole Klagsbrun, New York; 1991, Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec; 1989, Exit Art, New York; 1988, Mall's Gallery, London; 1985, Alternative Museum, New York; 1972, Circa Gallery, Geneva; 1967, University of Texas, Austin.

Bibliography (selection): 1997, C. Joseph Adande, Ery Camara, Jimmie Durham, llya Kabakov, Julia Kristeva, Gerardo Mosquera and Akiko Isukamoto, Strategies for survival - Now, A global perspective on ethnicity, body and breakdown of artistic systems, in An anthologie on the situation of the drastically changing world; 1996, Jimmie Durham, Der Verführer und der Steinerne Gast, Springer Verlag, Vienna-New York; 1995, Jimmie Durham, Denys Zacharopoulous and Jean-Pierre Rehm, Jimmie Durham. Eurasian Project Stage One. La porte de l'Europe (Les bourgeois de Calais). La leçon d'anatomie (A Progress Report), F.R.A.C. Champagne-Ardenne, Rheims/Le Channel-Galerie de l'Ancienne Poste, Calais/Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp and Jimmie Durham, "To create Sympathy in the Home", in Do It (Home Version); 1993, A certain Lack of Coherence, Kala Press, London, My Book, The East London Coelacanth, Bookworks, London; 1983, Columbus Day, West End Press, Albuquerque (2nd edition, 1992).

We see now that absolutely anything can be art... if the artist is good enough. And we can be constantly specific.., never having to ask what art is.
Kendell Geers has turned even his "curriculum vitae" into art.
To myself, I like the idea of being empty-handed; of arriving somewhere with no set instructions, no tools, no baggage.
And being possibly able to make art, not by brain-power or talent, but primarily by focus. Then I like to make things, and to make things both portable and interruptive.
Jimmie Durham, December 24th, 1999

ROBERT FILLIOU
1926, Sauve - 1987, Peyzac-le-Moustier

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1984, Sprengel Museum, Hanover; 1979, Projet From Madness to Nomad-ness; 1975, le Poïpoïdrome; 1971, Proposition Commemor, Commission Mixte pour l'Échange des Monuments aux Morts, Neue Galerie, Aachen (proposition faite à d'anciens pays ennemis d'échanger "leurs monuments aux morts avant la guerre et au lieu de se la faire en vue de sceller par un seul acte puissant la réconciliation européenne"); Research at the Stedelijk (Territoire de la République Géniale), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; 1965, fondation du magasin-atelier "La Cédille qui sourit" avec George Brecht, Villefranche-sur-Mer; 1962, voyage de la Galerie Légitime à Paris (sous le chapeau de l'artiste).

Bibliography (selection): 1990, Alain Giberti, Robert Filliou - Art is what makes life more interesting than art, Western Society Editions, Vancouver; Cahiers Danae, n° 4-5, Paris; 1 984, Robert Filliou, Longs poèmes courts à terminer chez soi, Editions Lebeer-Hossmann, Brussels; exhibition catalogue ARC, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris; 1978, Robert Filliou, Hommage aux Dogons et aux Rimbauds, Editions Fondation Poïpoï; 1974, Jean-Clarence Lambert, Dépassement de l'art, Paris, Editions Anthropos; 1971, Opus International, Paris, n° 22, January; 1969-1970, AaRevue, n° 4, 10 and 16-17, Liège.

I had the idea of creating my own territory and, of course, of suggesting that others create theirs. I thought that people living in such a territory would spend their time developing their genius rather than their talents.
Speaking of the Territoire de la République Géniale, part of Research at the Stedelijk, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in the ARC catalogue, Paris, 1984, p. 142.

The bourgeois model is fixed whereas the artistic model can be more enriching. But this model implies a great deal of personal effort. At the same time as you are changing society, you are trying much harder to change yourself.
From Madness to Nomad-ness, 1979

KENDELL GEERS
Born in 1968, South Africa. Lives and works in Johannesburg.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, Vienna Secession, Vienna; 1998, Heart of Darkness (with Bili Bidjocka) Gallery in the Round, Grahamstown, South Africa; 1997, Memento Mori, de Vleeshal,Middelburg; 1996, 16 June 1976 (with Willie Bester), Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg; 1995, WC., Villa Arson, Nice; 1994, We are Johannesburg Artists and Nothing More (with Joachim Schonfeldt), Michaelis Art Gallery, Cape Town; 1993, Threshold: The Exhibition, Everard Read Contemporary, Johannesburg; 1988, Box Theatre, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Bibliography (selection): 1999, Kendell Geers, "Project Pages", Metropolis M, Amsterdam, n° 2, AprilMay, pp. 29-32; 1998, Kendell Geers, The Horror, The Horror, C.A.P.C., Bordeaux; "The Horror, The Horror", Stopping The Process? Contemporary views on art and exhibitions, NIFCA, Helsinki, pp. 163173; 1995, Kendell Geers, "Fuck Art: The Prose of a Con-Artist", National Sculpture Symposium, Pretoria Technikon, July 4th; 1990, Kendell Geers, "Art as Propaganda Inevitably Self -Destructs", Art From South Africa, MoMA, Oxford, pp. 23-24 and Argot, Chalkham Hill Press.

Art is the purest embodiment of ideology that there is, one of the purest forms of politics in any society. When it is good, art demands that the viewer accept responsibilty for their tastes and judements and when it is not, it is because it has wondered off too far into the world of social conceits. Ethics and aesthetics are flip sides of the same coin.
Kendell Geers (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue)

FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES
1957, Guáimaro (Cuba) - 1996, Miami

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1997-1998, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Sprenel Museum Hannover-Kunstverein St. Gallen Kunstmuseum - Museum für Moderne Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna; 1995, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; 1990, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York; 1988, Workspace: Felix Gonzalez-Torres, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; 1984, A Second Reading, Printed Matter, New York.

Bibliography (selection): 1995, "Felix Gonzalez-Torres, être un espion", Art Press, Paris, n° 198, January, pp. 24-32; 1993, Jan Avgikos, Susan Cachan, Tim Rollins, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Art Resources Transfer, Los Angeles; 1992, Nancy Spector, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: A to Z, New York.

Some people say aesthetics and politics are different. I say the best thing about aesthetics is that the politics which permeate it are totally invisible. Because, when we speak about aesthetics we are talking about a whole set of rules that were established by somebody. We were not born with a set of aesthetic rules in our hands, were we? Aesthetics are not about politics; they are politics themselves. And this is how the "political" can be best utilized since it appears so "natural". The most successful of all political moves are ones that don't appears to be "political."
Felix Gonzalez-Torres cited by Nancy Spector, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, New York, 1995, p. 13.

GREGORY GREEN
Born in Niagara Falls. Lives and works in New York.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, Aeroplastics Contemporary (Damasquine 2), Brussels; 1997, Ars Futura Galerie, Zurich; 1996, Max Protetch, New York; 1994, Light Gallery, Los Angeles; 1993, Ella Sharpe Museum, Michigan; 1991, Dart Gallery, Chicago; 1989, Foster Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire; 1985, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago.

…Established orders and systems produce conditioned responses which regard our governing system as the true guardians of freedom, while also pretending to be the one and only source of truth. The ruling order conceives and propagates the myths and illusions that maintain these responses. Their control of our perception is total and sacrosanct. (...) During the first half of my career, my work explored techniques and strategies of manipulation and control utilized by governments and or institutions/systems of power. The focus of my current work is in a sense a response to that earlier work. Beginning in 1990 my work centered on an exploration of the history and evolution of various strategies of empowerment and change available to individuals or groups within a society...
Gregory Green (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

CARSTEN HOLLER
Born in 1961, Brussels. Lives and works in Cologne.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, New World, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; 1998, Gift (Poison), Camden Arts Centre, London and Neue Welt, Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel, Basel; 1997, Gift, Schipper & Krome, Berlin; 1996, Glück, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg and Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne; 1994, Loverfinches, Ars Futura, Zurich; 1993, Jenny Happy, Buchholz & Buchholz, Cologne.

Bibliography (selection): 1998, Carsten Holler, Spiele Buch, Oktagon; 1995, Carsten HOller, "Für die Liebe", in Der Standard, June 20th, pp. 6-7; 1 99.4, Carsten HOller, What is Love? Sunshine, Jahresring 41, pp. 132-157, Silke Schreiber, Munich; 1993, Carsten HOller, "The Pealove Room", in Flash Art, Milan, Vol. 27, n° 174, p. 61 and "Male Masturbation and the Female Orgasm", in Documents sur l'Art Contemporain, Paris, n° 4, October, pp. 67-69.

Doubts, perplexity, the incomprehensible within the understood, the non-ordinary-hysterical or beyond hysteria, the small-scale mass hystery, the pleasure principle, self-re plicative structures within the mechanistic colossus (eating it from the inside), the irrational parasitoid, the one decision: with whom to spend your life: as opposed to the maximum of undecidability in everything else, it happens elsewhere, producing un productivity, tainted transparency, post-pretentiousness, to believe, questions about motivation, the reason for reasons.
Carsten Holler (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

JOEL HUBAUT
Born in 1947, Amiens. Lives and works in Réville.

lnstallation-manoeuvre-peinture-sculpture-vidéo-performance-musique-poésie sonore et visuelle-fiction-essais-édition- etc.

Biography (selection): 1999, Clom-Trok-La crémerie: dépôt-vente, Centre d'art contemporain de BasseNormandie, Hérouville-Saint-Clair; 1998, La Coscienza Lucciante, Palazzo Esposizioni, Rome; 1997, Le Sens des Sens, Kunst und Austellungshalle der Bundesrepublik, Kunstmuseum Bonn; 1981, Journal computer épidémik, Galerie Aube 3935, Montreal; 1980, Une idée en l'air, performance-installation, Artist'spac; New York; 1975, Peintures sans couleurs, installation grise, Galerie Noire, Paris; 1972, Portrait d'Eric Satie, 21 aquarelles, Galerie de l'Estuaire, Honfleur; 1969, "Manifestation graphique autour de la beat generation" dessins et poèmes, Librairie du XXe siècle, Caen.

REGINE KOLLE
Born in 1967, Cologne. Lives and works in Paris.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1997, Mein Affe Pop, Galerie Samia Saouma, Paris; Up to Space, Down to Earth, Quartier Ephémère, Montreal; To die in Sky, Hôpital Ephémère, Paris; 1996, Galerie Samia Saouma, Paris.

Bibliography (selection): 1997, Regine Kolle, "To die in Sky", exhibition catalogue Hôpital Ephémère, Paris; Paul-Hervé Parsy, "A propos de la peinture de Regine Kollehl, exhibition catalogue Quartier Ephémère, Montreal.

SAVERI0 LUCARIELLO
Born in 1958, Naples. Lives and works in Paris.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris; 1997, Saverio Lucariello et Gilles Barbier, F.R.A.C. Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Marseilles; 1995, Abbaye Saint-André, Meymac; 1991, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Dunkerque; 1990, Galerie Municipale Edouard Manet, Gennevilliers; 1988, Centre d'art contemporain, Castres.

Bibliography (selection): 1995-1996, Pascale Cassagnau et/and Jean-Yves Jouannais, Le Spirituel de l'Art, exhibition catalogue, Abbaye Saint-André, Meymac; 1991, Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, Saverio Lucariello, exhibition catalogue, Espace d'art contemporain, Paris; 1990, Olivier Kaeppelin, Saverio Lucariello, exhibition catalogue, Galerie Municipale Edouard Manet, Gennevilliers.

FLORENCE MANLIK
Born in 1967. Lives et works in Paris.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1998, Galerie Philippe Rizzo, Paris; 1997, Dialog - Art dealers II, Galerie Philippe Rizzo, Marseilles; 1996, Evénement sur mesure n° 4 green, Caisse des dépôts et consignations, Paris; 1995, Evénement sur mesure n° 3 life show, Galerie Philippe Rizzo, art'cologne, Cologne; Evénernent sur mesure n° 2 room 306, Galerie Philippe Rizzo, Gramercy, New York; 1994, Baze, Marseilles.

Bibliography : 1996, Guillaume Nez, in Purple Prose, Paris; 1995, Paul Ardenne, in Art Press, Paris, February; Radek Vana, Detail Prosinec.

I think that the complexity of what is around us is surpassed by that of the individual. The politics of the individual is his or her desire. As it happens, there are as many politics as there are individuals. That is what I try to show.
Florence Manlik (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue)

GORDON MATTA-CLARK
1943, New York - 1978, New York

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1978, Circus-Caribbean Orange, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; 1978, Circus-Caribbean Orange, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; 1977, A Resource Center and Environmental Youth Program for Loisada, Lower East Side, New York; 1972, Open House, 98-112 Greene Street, New York; 1971, Food Restaurant, Prince Street, New York; 1968, Cornell University, New York.

Bibliography (selection): 1992-1993, exhibition catalogue Gordon Matta-Clark, Centre Julio Gonzàlez, Valencia/Musée Cantini, Marseilles; Serpentine Gallery, London; 1987, exhibition catalogue Gordon Matta-Clark, Nouveau Musée, Villeurbanne; 1985, exhibition catalogue Gordon Matta-Clark. A Retrospective, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; 1974, Gordon Matta-Clark, Splitting, 98 Greene Street Loft Press, New York; 1973-1974, Gordon Matta-Clark, Food, 16 mm, black and white and color.

DAVID MEDALLA
Born in 1942, Manila. Lives and works in London.

Solo exhibitions and performances (selection): 1994, The Secret History of the Mondrian Fan Club Part II, 55 Gee Street, Clerkenweli, London ; 1992, Five Immortals at Drop-Dead Prices, Cooper Union, New York ; 1985, Pinaglabanan Art Gallery, Manila ; 1984, Metamorphoses of an Enigma, Cirque divers, Liège; 1979, Chenil Art Gallery, London; 1976, Acme Gallery, London; 1974, The Porcelain Wedding, Edinburgh College of Art; 1967, Indica Gallery, London.

Moving towards a new millenium, as an artist who has been involved for over four decades with all kinds of events and interventions which aim at providing methaphors for inspiring the individual to create him/herself propulsions of liberatio, I envisage a time when the human spirit will slough off the mundane worries and banal terrors which have been the dark aspects of our ages and move graciously into a vibrant and luminous stage of fraternal, reciprocal, transcendal-hedonist love.
David Medalla, December 1999 (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

PHILIPPE MESTE
Born in 1966, Rennes. Lives and works in Paris.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1997, GASM, Galerie Jousse-Seguin, Paris/Centre d'art contemporain, Pougues-les-Eaux; 1994, Poste Militaire, Marché aux Puces, Marseilles; 1993, L'attaque du port de guerre de Toulon, 13 November 1993, Toulon.

Bibliography (selection): 1997, "GASM, Philippe Meste", Editions la RN7 and Galerie Jousse-Seguin.

NAME DIFFUSION
Marion Baruch, Serge Combaud, Myriam Rambach Created in Milan by Marion Baruch in 1990. Network presently active in Paris.

The piece we have developed for Micropolitiques is a Web action. We have invited a large number of web users to open their domains to the Sans Papiers, a group made up of "real" people, constructed using a computer. (...) Involved in the creation of the pages are ideas of mechanics, navigation, ergonomics and mental projection.
Name Diffusion, November 1999 (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

HERVÉ PARAPONARIS
Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, BRAINSTORM - life project, Marseilles and Rotterdam; 1997, Foundnation, Casco, Utrecht; 1996, Tout ce que je vous ai volé, Le Mac - Galeries contemporaines, Marseilles ; 1995, Is it about democratie?, Galerie Nelson, Paris.

Bibliography (selection): 1997, fordacity©, IK Ander; 1994, Sylvie Amar, Art press, Paris, n° 192, p.80; Angelique Schaller, La Marseillaise, March 1Sf, pp. 12-13 and March 20th, p. 13 ; 1991, Bernard Blistène, Via Marseille, Musée de Marseille / A.F.A.A.

Art today is an art of attitudes. By necessity a virus. This is how it has been moulded by years full of microelements. Its antidote is micropolitics. Everyday politics, I would say, with as many ministries as it takes to get the institution away from its totemic conception of art and culture. Don Quixote and Sancho. The artist, if that is his desire, is the only person capable of creating alternative spaces.
Hervé Paraponaris (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

DAN PETERMAN
Born in 1960, Minneapolis. Lives and works in Chicago.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1998, Currents 73. Kunsthalle Basel, Basel; Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York; 1997, Autodigestion, Klosterfelde, Berlin; Chicago Ground Cover, Grant Park, Chicago; 1996, Feigen Gallery, Chicago; Klosterfelde, Berlin; 1 99,4, Galerie Tanla Grunert, Cologne; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; 1993, F.R.A.C. Poitou-Charentes, Angoulême.

Bibliography (selection): 1998, exhibition catalogue, Kunstalle Basel, Basel; exhibition catalogue, Saint Louis Art Museum; 1989, Thank you for Your Patronage: Chairs from Street Carts, Men's Council of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Dan Peterman, The Chicago Compost Shelter, The Resource Center, Chicago.

My artwork is derived over the years, from observation of systems which are linked to the stream of waste which inevitably trails behind capitalistic, consumer-oriented society. This is at once a technological, social, ecological, economic, semiotic, political, etc., inquiry. One might assert that adopting such a viewpoint is inherently critical of the culture, being viewed. I wouldn't disagree but would have to add that there is no simple critique to which I adhere. The complexity encountered here often leaves me grasping for points of reference between, among other things, the global and the local. Where would I be without the ability to frequently rework my micro political universe?
Dan Peterman (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

MICHELANGELO PISTOLETTO
Born in 1933, Biella. Lives and works in Biella.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, MMAO, Oxford; 1998, Villa Medici, Roma; 1997, Museo L. Pecci, Prato; 1996, Lenbachhaus, Munich; 1995, Museum 2Oer Haus; 1994, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul; 1993, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; 1991, Museet for Samditkunst, Oslo; 1990, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome; 1989, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern; 1988, P.S. 1 Museum, New York.

Bibliography (selection): 1996, B. Cora and M. Pistoletto, Habitus, abito, abitare, Museo L. Pecci, Prato, Skira; H. Friedel, Pistoletto, Memoria - Intelligentia - Previdenzia, Lenbachhaus, Cantz Verlag, Munich; 1995, B. Cora, Pistoletto - Le porte di Palazzo Fabroni, Pistoia, Charta, Milan; 1990, U. Loock and D. Zacharopoulos, Ogetti in meno, 1965-1966, Kunstalle Bern, Bern/Wiener Secession, Vienna; 1989, Germano Celant, Pistoletto, Rizzoli, New York.

The endless fluidity and mobility of images replaced the static and supreme godhead, also fragmenting the fixed and compact representation of the ultimate vertex which gives the idea of truth a monolithic, dogmatic and authoritarian shape. My work and its development are grounded in the fluidity of thought in interpersonal relations as a dimension of being. They encompass an activity which puts art at the meeting point of all possible cross-sector connections and they belong to a common laboratory in which each individual product is both independent from and part of a laçge and open vision constantly formed and transformed by everyone's presence and contribution. Difference takes the place of homogeneity. Creativity takes the place of religions.
Michelangelo Pistoletto (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue)

TOBIAS REHBERGER
Born in 1966, Esslingen. Lives and works in Frankfurt

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, Holiday-Weekend-Leisure Time-Wombs, Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp; 1998, Museet, Stockholm; 1996, Suggestions from the Visitors of the Shows #74 and #75,Portikus, Frankfurt am Main; 1995, Neun Skulpturen, Prod uzentengalerie, Raum für Kunst, Hamburg; 1994, Rehbergerst, Galerie Barbel Grässlin, Frankfurt; 1992, 9 Skulpturen, Wohnung K. Konig, Frankfurt am Main.

Bibliography (selection): 1999, Maria Lind, "Raumnachbildungen und Erfahrungsraüne", Parkett, Zurich, n°54, pp. 186-190; 1998, Francesco Bonami, "Tobias Rehberger", cream, contemporary art in culture, Phaidon, London, pp. 336-339; 1997, Yilmaz Dziewior," Tobias Rehberger", Art forum, New York, January, pp. 74-75; 1995, Martin Pesch, Illobias Rehberger", artist, Heft 25.4, pp. 16-19.

FRANCK SCURTI
Born in 1965, Lyons. Lives and works in Paris.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1999, Heineken Vision, The Vedanta Gallery, Chicago; 1998, Street Credibility, Le Parvis, Pau; 1997, Dirty car, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris; 1996, Mobilis in Mobili, Espace Jules Verne, Brétigny-Sur-Orge; 1 99,4, I want to go home!, Établissement d'en face, Brussels; 1993, Plan B, Galeries Contemporaines, Centre d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris; 1992, Atheneum, Dijon.

Bibliography (selection): 1997, Luk Lambrecht and Pascal Rousseau, "Franck Scurti" , Centre d'Art de l'Espace Jules Verne, Brétigny-sur-Orge; Philippe Régnier, "Franck Scurti", Flash Art International, Milan, n° 192, January-February, pp.lO4-l 05; 1995, Elisabeth Lebovici, Libération, Paris, September 9th and 1 0th; 1 99,4, Franck Scurti, "Lago Galerie", Juliet, n° 69; 1993, Franck Scurti, "Visite à EuroDisney", Bloc Notes, Paris, n° 4.

Whenever individuals express themselves publicly we can say that their action is political. Whenever a work publicly addresses men's way of living together we can describe it as political and leave it up to the artist to take their responsibilities. Through a series of propositions / developed a meditation on everyday practices as an alternative to the idea of the project. The idea underlying this activity is to establish and to experiment with artistic practice on the same basis as what structures our everyday decisions. So I reproduced the door of my local baker's, filmed a glass of beer on the café pavement table and repaired the soles of my shoes. It was a fragmentary ensemble of small modifications articulated around the everyday. (...) This is very different from the idea of a project because it does not involve any hypothetical programming, or control, but rather a politicising of everyday practices as the act of a present. This specific rhythm does not depend on only an institutional tempo for, just as "all works are political", so not everything I touch is necessarily art.
Franck Scurti (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

SIMON STARLING
Born in 1967, Epsom. Lives and works in Glasgow.

Exhibitions (selection): 1999, Fireworks, De Appel, Amsterdam; 1998, Bad Faith, Waygood Gallery, Newcastle; 1997, Fishing for Shapes, KUnstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; 1996, Once Removed, Laure Genillard, London; 1995, About Place, Collective Gallery, Edimburg; 1994, Die Zweite Wirklichkeit, Aktuelle Aspekte des Mediums Kunst, Wilhemspalais, Stuttgart; 1992, Gesture No.5, Post West Gall , Adelaide; 1991, Museum Piece, Collaborative Installation in the Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art.

Bibliography (selection): 1999, Paul Shepeard, "Edgeless, Modeless", Afterall, London, n° 1; 1998, Ross Sinc[air, "Blue Boat Black", Frieze, London, February; 1996-97, Melissa Feldman, "Matters of Fact, New Conceptualism in Scotland", Third Text, n° 37; 1995, Stuart Morgan, "The future's not what it used to be", Frieze, London, March-April.

URI TZAIG
Born in 1965, Kiryat Gar, Israel. Lives and works in Tel Aviv.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1998, Tempo, De Vleeshal, Middelburg; 1997, Play, Museum of Modern Art, Ljublijana; 1996, We (with Fabrice Hybert), Israel Museum, Jerusalem; 1994, The Earrings of Eva Braun, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; 1993, Tel Aviv, Summer 1992, Bugrashov Gallery, Tel Aviv; 1990, Monologue, Artist's House Gallery, Jerusalem.

Bibliography (selection): 1999, Uri Tzaig, "A User's Guide to games", If/Then, Netherlands Design, Institute/BIS Publishers; 1998, Uri Tzaig & Lise Kuijken, "I'm just an active witness", Newsletter 11, Galerie Mot and Van den Boogaard, Brussels; 1997, Yan Fonce, Out of Senses, Museum of Modern Art; 1995, Un Tzaig, The Universal Square - Translations, Venice Biennale; 1994, Un Tzaig, The Story Teller, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin.

Reflecting on the other is only a way to help you define your own belief... So, yes, it is very important to resist the system and refuse autorities... But it is more important to create and invent your own systems... And then break them again. Making art is only a vehicle, taking us to more unique and interesting destinations, places we don't know... Since different guards are waiting for you, any way, in any destination - the artist should be clever enough to kill them without their noticing it... The duel (battle) brings sex into art, (some artists are sewing the uniforms, some are tearing them) one can smell the sweat... I prefer artists who don't shout at the policeman but sing - every artist should know what makes him/her sing...
Uri Tzaig (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

NICOLAS GARCIA URIBURU
Born in 1937, Buenos Aires. Lives and works in Buenos Aires.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1995, Llanto Cubano, Centro Wilfredo Lam, Havana; 1993, Utopia del Sur, GalerIa Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires; 1992, S.O.S. Brasil, Museo de Arte de Sao Paulo; 1989, JGM Galerie, Paris; 1982, Museum Hara, Tokyo; 1975, Galerie Ferrero, Nice; 1974, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York; 1967-1968, Galerie Iris Clert, Paris; 1954, Galerie Muller, Buenos Aires.

Bibliography (selection): 1998, Malena Babino, "El Arte en la Resistencia de la utopia", Diario El Pais del Plata; Nicolàs GarcIa Uriburu en el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires; 1974, Sylvie Dupuis, "Uriburu Vert Virgile", Art Press, Paris; 1973, Pierre Restany, "Le Monde Tout en Vert", Domus; 1971, Jorge Glusberg, "Nicolàs Garcia Uriburu", Art and Artists, London.

I have always loved nature. It was when I coloured three kilometres of water in Venice during the Biennale (June, 20th, 1968) that I really became aware of the need to defend it from the contamination due to the simple fact of man's existence on the planet. This worsened with the industrial period and even more since 1950, when world population growth switched suddenly from horizontal to vertical. I have repeated this action in a number of waterways around the world (about thirty of them), all the way to Japan, following the course of my exhibitions. / think it is important that this gesture was repeated in very different expanses of water: rivers, lakes, fountains and" harbours, because that makes it a visual, artistic and political message. (...) I have been fighting for the trees since 1971 (...) using TV, letters to newspapers, etc. (...) People have got to know me because of all these actions and they respect my work and copy what I do in other districts. I see myself as a communicator of ideas-through art, of course: in it I introduce images or ideas of working for the public good. (...) Now, in the present, I have understood that ethics are more important than aesthetics.
Nicolàs Garcia Uriburu (excerpt from the exhibition catalogue).

JACQUES VILLEGLÉ
(Jacques Mahé de la Villeglé aka)
Born in 1926, Quimper. Lives and works in Paris.

Solo exhibitions (selection): 1985, Villeglé, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes; 1978, Villeglé : Affiches lacérées, Musée des Jacobins, Morlaix; 1977, Jacques de la Villeglé : Lacéré Anonyme, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; 1976, Hams, Rotella, Villeglé, Musée d'Art Moderne, Saint-Etienne; 1973, J. de la Villeglé: Decollagen 1949-1972, Museum Haus Lange Krefeld; 1971, Villeglé : 1949-1 971, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; 1957, Raymond Hams, Jacques de la Villeglé : Loi du 29 juillet 1881, Galerie Colette Allendy, Paris.

Bibliography (selection): 1988-1990, Villeglé, Catalogue thématique des affiches lacérées de Villeglé (10 Vol.), Paris; 1986, Villeglé, Urbi et Orbi, Dijon; 1985, Bernard Lamarche-Vadel and Villelé, Le Retour de l'Hourloupe, Rennes; 1984, Alain Bonfand and Martine Sadion, exhibition catalogue Affiches, Musée Départemental d'Art Contemporain, Rochechouart; 1967, Villeglé, De Mathieu à Mahé, Jacqueline Ranson, Paris.

My decision to do the affiches lacérées (torn poster fragments), which is what enabled me to constitute a sustained body of visual work, no doubt originated in a feeling that the art world was closed in itself. To steal and collect, to pilfer and assemble a collection, to work on and with time, is to take part in the history of politics' major and minor manoeuvres, and in the commercial mores of society. As soon I started collecting them I foresaw that the fact of gathering posters made illegible by their tears would engender a critical reality, a dialectic that would take viewers away from the banality of everyday contingencies. Tearing provokes unpredictable juxtapositions, a comparative syntactic scrambling à la Maldoror, devoid of any social or moral notions. The microcosm of the hoarding, like the macrocosm of society, is the mirror, the symbol of the universal contradictions of the chaosmos. Ideological structures are disarticulated.
Jacques Villeglé, November 1999 (excerpt from catalogue).