Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil, « INCLUDE ME OUT »

Fom October 26th 2013 to Januay 19th 2014
Opening Friday, October 25th, at 6:30 PM

Artist Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil (born 1968) is an artist of vigilance.
Since the mid-1990s he has been working to reveal the invisible structures informing our relation to a real that is always already mediatised. He tirelessly probes the production of the image, considered in its political space.

A word from the Exhibition Curator

Artist Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil (born 1968) is an artist of vigilance. Since the mid-1990s he has been working to reveal the invisible structures informing our relation to a real that is always already mediatised.
He tirelessly probes the production of the image, considered in its political space. Visibility/invisibility, luminosity/darkness, memory/ forgetting, what we know/ what we think we know, evoking without showing, saying without relating – these are some of the markers for grasping these works which give formal expression to the codes that organise the flux of images. Whereas the works of the 1990s reached towards a kind of practical and paranoiac guide to the world (how to demonstrate in public space while avoiding the eyes of cameras, how to camouflage oneself at home, etc.) and very explicitly deconstructed the society of hyper-control, today Auguste-Dormeuil is continuing his probing in a more poetic and metaphorical vein, with greater distance and purview.
The exhibition ‘INCLUDE ME OUT,’ the artist’s first solo show in a French museum, is built around a simple but nevertheless essential question: does Time traverse us, or do we traverse Time? If Time can be calculated, it is by essence unwatchable. How can we translate this experience of the elasticity of Time?
The exhibition, which is being continued at the Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard in December, unfolds like an initiatory sequence bringing together recent productions and key works. From the entrance inwards, When the paper… (2013) invites visitors to abandon their certainties and enter a zone of doubt: the territory of art. From darkness to light, back and forth, it will be a matter of blindness.
What do we see? How do we see? How should we show what cannot be represented? The works are distributed along this territory of suspense like so many tools of analysis. They are visual supports for analysing and questioning our relation to the real. Paradoxically, the images made by Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil are images of the absence of images, frozen images. Grounded in historical facts, in urban legends, the works are triggers and springboards for narratives.
Questioned about the paradoxically worded title ‘INCLUDE ME OUT,’ Auguste- Dormeuil explains as follows: ‘in Contempt by Jean-Luc Godard, when the producer invites Fritz Lang to come and have a drink, he laconically replies “Include me out.” With insolent elegance, Godard recaptures all the paradoxical complexity of Lang’s position. Beyond that, this “include me out” is for me a strong way of expressing a simple idea that we all experience: it is not because I live in a society that I subscribe to its ideas, and it is not because I watch television that I subscribe to it, and so on for so many other things.’

Frank Lamy

Presentation

The MAC/VAL will be presenting Renaud Auguste- Dormeuil’s first solo exhibition in a French museum.
In parallel, the Fondation d’entreprise Ricard will also be presenting an exhibition of Auguste- Dormeuil’s work, in December. The MAC/VAL exhibition “INCLUDE ME OUT” is constructed around a simple, yet essential question: is it Time going through us, or are we going through Time? Although Time is calculable, it is, by essence, ineffable. How can we translate the experience of the elasticity of Time?
The exhibition unfolds like a initiatory trip, taking the visitor through the artist’s recent creations and key works. Upon entry, one is invited to abandon their certitudes and dwell in a zone of doubt, the territory of art. From darkness to the light and back again, the question of blindness is broached. What do we see? How do we see? How can we represent the unshowable?
Auguste-Dormeuil’s works mark steps in a circuit through territories of suspense, like so many tools for analysis. They are the plastic representations for reflection and the questioning of our relationship with reality. Paradoxically, Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil creates images of an absence of images, stills. Rooted in historical facts and urban legends, his works are so many indicators of and springboards for histories.
When asked about the title “INCLUDE ME OUT”, Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil explained, “In Jean-Luc Godard’s Mépris, when the the producer invites Fritz Lang to have a drink, Lang laconically replies, Include me out. With a sort of insolent elegance, Godard establishes all of the pardoxical complexity of Lang’s gesture. Beyond this, to me, “Include me out” is a powerful way of expressing a simple idea, something we have all experienced. It is not just because I live in a society that I must adhere to it; it is not because I watch television that I have to adhere to it... and so on and so one for so many other things...”

Exhibition organized in cooperation with the Fondation d’entreprise Ricard pour l’art contemporain.

Works

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