JACQUES CHARLIER
100 SEXES D'ARTISTES
Official opening of the project:
Thursday 4 June 2009 at 5pm
Boat open from 3 - 7 June 2009, 10 am - 8 pm
Curated by Enrico Lunghi
Boat 100 SEXES D'ARTISTES
Riva dei Sette Martiri - 30122 Venezia - Italy
http://www.jacquescharlier-venise2009.be
The project is produced by the French-Speaking Community Wallonia-Brussels, with the support of Wallonia-Brussels International (WBI).
Does the Venice Biennale seek virgin or castrated artists?
In 1973, Jacques Charlier began a series of drawings of "artists' genitalia". Using caricature, he set himself the task of making imaginary portraits of the "procreative organs" of artists whom he considers to have been major figures in 20th century art since Marcel Duchamp.
Through the years, Jacques Charlier has put together a veritable gallery of portraits based on conceptual analysis and personal interpretation of the "artistic attributes" of major representatives of modern and contemporary art, thus enabling, among other things, a humorous and satirical re-reading of recent art history.
The Ministry of Culture and Broadcasting of the French-Speaking Community of Belgium was in favour of the idea of showing hundred of these drawings in the form of posters in the public space of Venice. A little open air museum, with a rather theatrical aspect perfectly adapted to the Venetian atmosphere, could have been presented to visitors of the Biennale, the inhabitants of the Serenissime and passing tourists.
The project was officially submitted to be included in the collateral events of the 53rd International Art Exhibition. However, in a letter dated 18 December 2008, the director Daniel Birnbaum stated that he regrets "to inform that after careful evaluation of the proposal he does not believe that it is possible to include it in the collateral events".
Surprised by this awkward formulation and convinced that it must be a misunderstanding, we offered to resubmit the project to the Biennale with updated information, accompanied by a letter of support from the relevant Ministry. Daniel Birnbaum accepted to re-examine the dossier, but in his reply of 21 February 2009, "he regrets to confirm his original decision". During a telephone conversation, the director affirmed that "it was the president Paolo Baratta who opposed the project because he believed there was a risk of offending the artists concerned", an argument that Daniel Birnbaum subsequently confirmed by email. We therefore wrote to the President to try to convince him to change his mind. However, on 8 April 2009, he replied that "the validation of the projects fell exclusively to the director". Obviously, nobody wants to take responsibility for this piece of censorship.
However, in spite of the problems of organization, presentation and visibility due to this rather arbitrary exclusion, and thanks to the unconditional support of the Ministry of Culture and Broadcasting of the French-Speaking Community of Belgium, we have continued working on the project. As we believe that the artists are adult enough to decide for themselves what offends them or not and are free to reply, in their own manner, to any possible provocation, we wrote to them (with the exception of some who are impossible to contact, such as the late lamented Marcel Duchamp). As the City of Venice also refused to give us the public advertising space required for the billposting, by arguing that "certain posters could offend the shared sense of public decency", we also wrote to the mayor, Massimo Cacciari, to ask him (among other things) where this "shared sense of decency" begins and ends, how it is constituted and who decides its limits.
All answers received plus the documents related to the project will be available for consultation, from 3 to 7 June 2009, on the boat serving as a refuge for the "100 Sexes d'Artistes" project. The boat is moored at the Riva dei Sette Martiri in Venice, near the Giardini.
What is more, galvanized by this inadmissible censorship, we contacted other cities and art institutions who have accepted to present the "100 Sexes d'Artistes" project in public space with no hesitation. Which just goes to show the ridiculous nature of the Venetian position.
During the month of June 2009, the posters will therefore be on display in Antwerp (B), Belgrade (SR), Bergen (N), Linz (A), Luxembourg (L), Metz (F) and Namur (B). Their inhabitants can participate in the photo game "Free Venice" and win a catalogue published for the occasion. Other cities will certainly follow suit. At the same time, a Quizz Art specially conceived by Jacques Charlier allows everybody (via the website http://www.jacquescharlier-venise2009.be) to win a t-shirt displaying the motif of the genitalia of the artist Jacques Charlier himself.
It only remains for the art world and journalists (at any rate, those who don't just parrot the official press releases) to ask themselves what values the Venice Biennale is promoting if it censors an artistic project in such a dubious and irresponsible manner. Is it up to the Biennale to castrate artists by deciding for them what might offend those whose very existence consists of forever extending the limits of freedom? Members of the public (for the Biennale, but also passing tourists and the inhabitants of the Serenissime) might wonder to what extent the Biennale and the local authorities in Venice intend to infantilize them by denying them the possibility of being confronted with a humorous and satirical project that is full of references to art history from Marcel Duchamp to the present day. Do they henceforth only have the right to be exposed to advertising and art that is formatted, digested and castrated?
Jacques Charlier (artist) and Enrico Lunghi (curator)
Boat 100 SEXES D'ARTISTES
Riva dei Sette Martiri - 30122 Venezia - Italy
Official opening of the project, Thursday 4 June 2009 at 5pm
Boat open from 3 - 7 June 2009, 10 am - 8 pm
Vaporetto halt: Arsenale: A 41 / Giardini: A 41, 51, 82
http://www.jacquescharlier-venise2009.be
info@jacquescharlier-venise2009.be
Press contact: presse@jacquescharlier-venise2009.be
Catalogue 100 SEXES D'ARTISTES: 10Euro
The project is produced by the French-Speaking Community Wallonia-Brussels, with the support of Wallonia-Brussels International (WBI).
Executive producer: AICA-Association Internationale des Critiques d'Art-Section Luxembourg and Mudam Luxembourg.
Partners of "Free Venice":
• Muhka, Antwerp (http://www.muhka.be)
• Stiftelsen 3,14, Bergen (http://www.stiftelsen314.com)
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (http://www.msub.org.rs)
• OK Offenes Kunsthaus Oberösterreich, Linz (http://www.ok-centrum.at)
• Mudam & Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (http://www.mudam.lu)
• Frac Lorraine, Metz (http://www.fraclorraine.org)
• Musée provincial Félicien Rops, Namur (http://www.museerops.be)