Esthétique Esthétique passionnelle
The Fondation d’entreprise Ricard is pleased to host this conversation on the occasion of the publication of a retrospective catalog on art venue Immanence, which it has been supporting for several years.
«Immanence opened on January 25, 2000 at 21, avenue du Maine in southwestern Paris. Since then, almost a hundred exhibitions and events have taken place in this space founded on the initiative of Cannelle Tanc and Frédéric Vincent, both graduates of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (Paris). The retrospective catalog constitutes a trace of the work done. Rather than chronological order, its organization is based on a choice of thirty shows and projects that reflect the spirit of Immanence, its diversity, its concerns, and its affinities. The title Esthétique passionnelleobviously echoes Nicolas Bourriaud’s Relational Aesthetics. As for the subtitle, Immanence : une vie… d’expositions, it refers to the last text published by Deleuze in his lifetime, Immanence: A Life. The use of a philosophical term as a name for an exhibition space is a strong, thoughtful, and deliberate choice: it marks a will to differentiation, situating the programming and selection within a tradition of open thought.
From Courbet and his Pavillon du réalisme in 1855 to the recent multiplication of artist-run spaces in Berlin, London, or New York, independent sites have given countless artists a chance to emerge while providing curators and critics with a place to propose exhibition or presentation projects. Immanence is part of that history. At a time when the form called contemporary art may be coming to an end, giving way to a new form, artists no longer make single works, reasoning instead in terms of exhibition. As a consequence, curators-artists play a decisive role in the elaboration of new forms of thought.»
Cannelle Tanc and Frédérique Vincent
