April 17 - June 6, 2010
"I'm Not Here. An Exhibition Without Francis Alÿs"
Curatorial Statement:
I’m Not Here. An Exhibition Without Francis Alÿs is an exhibition that brings together a group of 14 international artists. The exhibition is put together by the participants of the de Appel Curatorial Programme and takes place in the new exhibition space of the de Appel Boys' school. Next to the works in the exhibition, performances will take place in the neighbourhood of De Pijp. The title of the exhibition is inspired by the film of Todd Haynes' I’m Not There (2007), in which six actors depict different facets of Bob Dylan's life and his artistic persona while Dylan himself is absent from the film. Francis Alÿs is the absent protagonist of this exhibition that you are about to enter. The atmosphere of Alÿs’s work is implicitly present, the show does not contain literal illustrations of his oeuvre or specific aspects of his practice. By shifting the spotlight from a well-established artist like Alÿs to a group of related artistic practices, the exhibition not only redistributes agency to all of the participating artists, but also engenders a critical interrogation of the format of the solo show. We invite you as a member of the audience to think about Alÿs by thinking about the other artists in the exhibition and to thus challenge the privileging of presence over absence.
Many of the works in the exhibition are minor interventions or poetic gestures, which will ultimately be “distributed” as rumours or linger as hearsay. Through their ephemeral and minimalist characters, these works share an affinity with Alÿs’s way of working, but a deeper reading may reveal deviation of, variation in relation to or even confrontation with his practice. Some works in the show question whether documentation is the only valid means of reviving or representing once-only occurrences. Other works interrogate the nature of a “real” encounter with performances on a personal level or in a particular situation. Still other pieces question the meaning of minor interventions in an institutional context and in the public sphere, and explore the limits of political efficacy when an artist infuses his or her singular gestures with a broader social meaning.
Curated by:
Nikita, Yingqian Cai (CN), Alhena Katsof (CAN), Direlia Lazo (CU), Yael Messer (IL), Alan Quireyns (BE), Luis Silva (PT)
de Appel arts centre