FAQ is an accordion-fold art publication edited by
Maurizio Cattelan and Myriam Ben Salah and commissioned by Le Dictateur. Coinciding with the 10th anniversary edition of Le Dictateur, the first volume will expand into a yearly series.
FAQ stands for Freequently Asked Questions, referencing an attempt to synthesize a recurrent flow, a tenor, an ideal visual representation of a given and very subjective “now”.
Born out of an accute image eating disorder, FAQ reflects the mental assimilation of a relentless roving within physical and virtual art spaces: from galleries to tumblr accounts, museums, or artists studios; it can be seen as a portable exhibition, a show on paper, a project of restitution, a hybrid object that you can leaf and scroll through. Far from being a rational enterprise because of its lack of rules, hierarchy, order—or concept for that matter—it is expressly and brazenly as personal and biased as possible and reflects the obsessive mannerism of its authors.
Works by
Korakrit Arunanondchai,
Thomas Bayrle,
Neil Beloufa,
Judith Bernstein,
David Douard,
Carroll Dunham,
Dan Finsel,
Llyn Foulkes,
Kathy Grannan,
Camille Henrot,
Charles Irvin,
Elad Lassry,
Jon Rafman,
Steven Shaerer,
Emily Mae Smith,
Peter Sutherland,
Slavs and Tatars,
Andra Ursuta,
Aleksandra Waliszewska,
Charlie White,
Jakub Julian Ziolkowski...
"Le Dictateur" is
Federico Pepe, a self-proclaimed tyrant who grabbed full power and legitimized himself to begin an ambitious publishing project with the collaboration of Vice Dictateur
Pierpaolo Ferrari.
The title "Le Dictateur" is in French, it sounds milder this way... In this form, it nearly sounds like a compliment.
Le Dictateur is the highest expression of the dominion of personal will:
the magazine is to be thought of as a state, a space where artists, photographers, fashion world protagonists live together, arbitrarily selected and invited.
Some are famous, some are extremely famous, some are totally unknown: they earned their citizenship because they have been wanted there, and they each became dictators of their own pages.
In total freedom and lack of rules they were called to present a new or custom project for "Le Dictateur": the result is a magazine with an extreme spirit.
Le Dictateur is a proposition, not a critique: Le Dictateur is not very fond of the sophisms of those who use thought and words as alibi and not as support to action.
Confrontation, dialogues can only exist after one's creative freedom has been freely expressed."Freedom of choice and movement is fundamental. For certain things—Le Dictateur affirms—democracy is useless, it actually weakens in proportion to how many people have decisional power".
Therefore, to maintain the vitality of one's creation at its highest, it needs to be as personal and subjective as possible. It must not undergo the gauntlet of suggestions, hints, evaluations, amputations.
Le Dictateur is a figure which has power, but also for a kind of philanthropy: people want to rebel to the authority principle, but when someone actually takes responsibilities for all the decisions, they are happier and quieter.
See also
Le Dictateur Press (the editorial platform publishing various artists' books and other projects, including
Maurizio Cattelan and
Pierpaolo Ferrari's
Toilet Paper magazine).
