Actions de table
Patrick Javault is welcoming Marie Cool and Fabio Balducci.
Marie Cool and Fabio Balducci address the question of the imperfect continuity between performance and exhibition in their own, unique way. The presentation in the same space and at the same time of video records of their actions, working materials and elements for their actions scrambles chronology and blurs the distinction between what did happen, what is on the way or may well repeat itself.
While the actions performed by Marie Cool do not constitute amazing feats, they still require concentration and precision. Their simplicity is not synonymous with banality. They are abstract actions in the sense that they are not aimed at a goal or a realization; they resonate with everyday actions or instances of behavior slightly off accepted norms. Creating regular curves with aligned crayons on a table, using the palm of the hand and a slight movement of the wrist to make a skyline of sorts appear, then putting everything back in order: this diversion of the tool from its common use still remains in the spirit of drawing. These creative gestures performed on classroom tables or in space may also channel anger or rebellion. Actions devised by Cool and Balducci lead us to reconsider the nature of gestures, to try and determine what in them belongs to creation and work, freedom and constraint. While the exhibition “La Mia mano come organo” at the Frac Lorraine features video documents, the show running simultaneously at the Delme Synagogue, “Come Tavolo, come lago, come vivo spazio,” has a woman (hired for the occasion) perform a series of actions in front of visitors in the order chosen by her. The creative action has become work, but this work is also meant to be an interpretation of the action.
