A perspective on contemporary video and multimedia creation through the various works produced by students (promotions Michelangelo Antonioni & Chantal Akerman) and invited artists-professors for the 21th edition of the “Panorama” program at Le Fresnoy.
For over twenty years now, each edition of “Panorama”, defined by a strong pedagogical and editorial approach, has been a privileged moment for encountering young art makers and at the same time experiencing an ethos of teaching in a tangible, well-defined way.
Often, the quality of the works is such that we almost forget the primary function of these “Panorama” shows at Le Fresnoy, which is to assess these productions in a great hall, an initiatory space of passage where students at the end of their studies come together with others who are at the halfway stage.
This desire to provide a space for opinions and gazes is the object of twofold attention and a subtle equilibrium between the “gazers” and the artists. The spaces are clearly defined by this concern to create the conditions needed to experience each work on its own terms; this is the implicit pact behind this edition—just as it was behind the previous ones—between the artistic directors, the team at the school, and the artists. All, including the visiting artists and accompanying staff, partake with the same enthusiasm in the proliferation of forms.
What impresses in every “Panorama” is the technical and formal prowess shown by these young artists and their desire to keep on listening and learning. Knowing so as to continue learning certainly seems to be one of the credos of this singular art school that is Le Fresnoy.
Michelangelo Antonioni, the master, and Chantal Akerman, the incandescent, are the tutelary figures who gave their names to these two student years. One an inventor of modernity and the other an indefatigable revealer of fratricidal frontiers, both are an inspiration for those who seek to go “beyond.”
It is to this creative cycle which repeats itself while ensuring that no exhibition or work resembles another, that we are invited to witness today. This edition will, like the others, demonstrate the outstanding creativity of these artists, and of the contemporary, digital art that they are helping to (re)invent.
José-Manuel Gonçalvès, artistic director.
Published on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition at Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains, Tourcoing, from September 22 to December 30, 2018.
With Saïd Afifi, Annabelle Amoros, Thiago Antonio,
Art Orienté Objet (Marion Laval-Jeantet et Benoît Mangin), June Balthazard, Bettina Blanc-Penther, Gao Bo, Blanca Camell Galí, Chiara Caterina, Olivier Cheval,
Cindy Coutant, Thomas Depas, Hugo Deverchère, Maia Flore,
Thierry Fournier, Virgile Fraisse, Thomas Garnier,
Riccardo Giacconi, Alain Guiraudie, Hai-Wen Hsu, Pang-Chuan Huang, Jean Hubert, Hideyuki Ishibashi, Damien Jibert, Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis, Robin Labriaud, Melisa Liebenthal, Julien Maire, Mélissa Medan, Ina Mihalache, Jonathan Paquet, Pierre Pauze, Mili Pecherer, Assia Piqueras, Vincent Pouydesseau, Francisco Rodriguez, Camila Rodríguez Triana, Varun Sasindran, Egor Shevchenko, Marina Smorodinova, Marie Sommer, Vasil Tasevski, Thanasis Trouboukis, Hadrien Téqui, Julie Vacher, Alex Verhaest, Clément Vieille, Juan-Pablo Villegas, Yohei Yamakado.
