Per
la stagione estiva la sezione del NMNM nella Villa Sauber si trasformata con carta
da parati, tappeti e tendaggi, quadri, specchi, fiori e tazze di tè.
La
mostra Portraits d'Intérieurs presenta le diverse aree di questo stupendo
edificio liberty rivisitate da cinque artisti contemporanei.
Attingendo
a un repertorio di forme mutuate dalla letteratura, dalla storia dell'arte, dal
palcoscenico e dal cinema, Marc-Camille Chaimowicz, Danica Dakic, Brice
Dellsperger, Nick Mauss e Laure Prouvost rinnovano la nostra percezione della
ex dimora del pittore inglese Robert Sauber attraverso la creazione di diversi
elementi di decori in ciascuna delle sale del museo.
Una
dimensione teatrale pervade questi interni e la confusione tra lo spazio
espositivo e lo spazio scenico percorre tutta la mostra.
Press
release
Wallpaper,
carpets and curtains, pictures, mirrors, flowers and cups of tea... The
exhibition Portraits d’Intérieurs introduces the different areas of
Villa Sauber re-visited and presented by five contemporary artists.
Drawing
from a repertory of forms borrowed from literature, art history, stage and
film, Marc-Camille Chaimowicz, Danica Dakic, Brice Dellsperger, Nick Mauss and
Laure Prouvost renew our perception of the former abode of the English painter
Robert Sauber by developing different elements of décors in each of the
museum’s rooms.
The
source of Portraits d’Intérieurs lies in a private collection of rooms,
through two installations by the artists Marc-Camille Chaimowicz and Nick
Mauss, specifically rekindled for Villa Sauber.
A
laminated plywood screen slides back to reveal the installation Jean
Cocteau... – an imaginary bedroom of the poet, inspired by the décor
of Les Enfants Terribles (1929) and made out of painted wooden
panels, carpets, and various pieces of furniture and objects that Marc-Camille
Chaimowicz made or found. Placed throughout the former living room of Villa
Sauber, these elements recreate an old-fashioned bourgeois interior that
resembles the “chamber theater” imagined by Cocteau, a combination of
memorabilia and references to art history. Concurrently to this installation,
Marc-Camille Chaimowicz presents a selection of works chosen from the NMNM’s
collections, underpinned by Jean Cocteau’s relationship with the Ballets Russes
and the Principality of Monaco. Christian Bérard’s ethereal drawings
for Cotillon and The Seventh Symphony are shown alongside
Joan Miro’s set decoration for Jeux d'Enfants. A unique ceramic piece,
which Jean Cocteau made in 1958 for the Cap d’Ail theatre, is also presented
for the first time.
Nick
Mauss’ piece Concern, Crush, Desire is a reconstruction of an
antechamber decorated by Christian Bérard in 1939 for Guerlain’s Champs-Elysées
Institute, and encases the works selected from the NMNM’s collections in yellow
velvet and cotton appliqué. Nick Mauss’ drawings interact with several set
decoration projects: Pavel Tchelitchew’s scenery for the ballet Ode, an annotated
scale model of the set created by Natalia Goncharova for La Péri, as well
as two photographs in which Constantin Brancusi captures Lizica Codreanu
dancing to Satie’s Gymnopedies, and Cocteau’s drawings of Bérard made up
and dressed as a transvestite.
The
theatrical dimension of these interiors and the confusion between the
exhibition space and the space of the stage are extended in five video
installations.
With
the video installation Wantee, produced by Tate Britain on the occasion of
the exhibition Schwitters in Britain, the artist Laure Prouvost invites
spectators to enter a reconstruction of “Grandad”’s cabin (her fictional
grandfather), a conceptual artist close to Schwitters whose companion Edith
Thomas was nicknamed “Wantee”. Drawings, paintings, sculptures, ceramics and
furniture make up the décor of this strange place where people lived and
created, thus questioning the nature and function of art.
The
installation Isola Bella, devised by Bosnian artist Danica Dakic, is
announced by three posters hanging over a display case that contains
accessories for a show: eight paper masks and a series of hand-written notes,
most certainly acting instructions. The title Isola bella, is borrowed from a
panoramic décor of wallpaper created by the Züber company in 1842. For two
weeks, a reproduction of this wallpaper was installed in the home for mentally
handicapped children and adolescents at Pazaric in Bosnia, turning a small
auditorium into a cinema set. Against a paradise island backdrop, the residents
of the home become actors in short presentations in which they play and
improvise their own lives.
By
freely re-creating the décors of certain cult films, the visual artist Brice
Dellsperger produces remakes which he puts together under the overall title Body
Double. Within one and the same image, several characters evolve, usually
played by the actor himself, filmed against a green backcloth and then
apparently embedded in an artificial décor. The characters seem to float in the
décor, becoming dangerously detached from it, and ready to topple into the
image. The exhibition presents Brice Dellsperger’s two latest films, made in
2013. BD29 now belongs to the NMNM collection, thanks to UBS
patronage.
For
the exhibition Portraits d’Intérieurs, the NMNM is producing a specific
publication bringing together five posters created by the artists on view.
Villa
Sauber is opening a new shop, offering, in particular, artists’ wallpapers,
publications and ceramics.
For
the duration of the exhibition, the design of the Salon de Lecture will be
entrusted to Antoinette Poisson, a Parisian decoration firm specialised in the
restoration and edition of domino wallpaper. Three styles of papers drawn,
printed, and painted using 18th century traditional techniques will be specially
reissued and associated with the votive boxes preserved at the NMNM.
Curator
: Célia Bernasconi (NMNM)
