Argos Centre for Art and Media opens Bon Travail a group exhibition on view Sun 03.3.2013 – Sun 07.4.2013.
Gustav Metzger, Historic Photographs: To Crawl Into – Anschluss, Vienna, March 1938. Installation view, Gustav Metzger Decades: 1959 – 2009, Serpentine Gallery, London (29 September – 8 November 2009). Image courtesy of Serpentine Gallery, London. Photo: Jerry Hardman-Jones. Collection FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims.
How do artists view the role of work in our society? What part does work play in our lives? In the ‘Bon Travail’ exhibition ten artists question the position of the apparent opposite poles of ‘work’ and ‘non-work’ (or free time). With bittersweet humour they stand up for the right to be lazy. Their seemingly pointless but playful actions illustrate the fact that work can be utterly absurd, or show that compulsory work can be deployed as an instrument of political power that leads to subjection. Ranging from the spectacular to the intimate, the exhibition interprets labour as a (political) performance. The notion of ‘non-work’ is considered to be of equal worth, as a factor for freedom that contributes to the quantity and quality of both the product of work and of life itself. ‘Bon Travail’ presents a number of the works used in ‘brouillon’ in a completely different context: the ‘fixed’ layout of an exhibition.
Works by Boris Chouvellon, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Pierre Leguillon, Gustav Metzger, Jean-Luc Moulène, Hans Op de Beeck, Jean-Gabriel Périot, Mladen Stilinović, Roberto Verde & Geraldine Py, Angel Vergara Santiago.
Curated by Ive Stevenheydens (Argos) in collaboration with Boris Charmatz and Martina Hochmuth (Musée de la danse).
‘Bon Travail’ is a co-production of Argos, Kaaitheater & Musée de la danse. www.argosarts.org