L'Intime, le collectionneur derrier la porte, 2004, installation view,
La Maison Rouge-Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris
L’intime, behind closed doors: the private world of collectors
from an original idea by Gérard Wajcman
Saturday June 5th to Sunday September 26th, 2004
Paula Aisemberg, managing director, co-curator of the exhibition Antoine de Galbert, president, co-curator of the exhibition Gérard Wajcman, writer, psychoanalyst and lecturer, co-curator of the exhibition Noëlig Le Roux, general coordinator Thierry Germe, scenographer Sylvain Sorgato, technical manager.
The inaugural exhibition at la maison rouge is about the relationship between a collector and the works in their collection. In close collaboration with Gérard Wajcman, la maison rouge reveals certain aspects of this unique, intimate and daily relationship in an exceptional staging. Sixteen boxes or "houses" are spread throughout the foundation's exhibition space. Each contains a life-size replica of a room - perhaps a bedroom, lounge, office or toilet - from sixteen collectors' homes. The exhibition does not present the collections in their entirety. Instead it seeks to reveal, through fragments of private space, different ways of living with art but also a glimpse of the "daily life" of the works themselves. L'intime prompts questions about the notion of possession or detachment, and about the process of reappropriation that underlies any act of choosing and acquiring an artwork.
The scenography highlights the confrontation between the works in a domestic sphere, and their transposition from the studio, gallery or auction- room to a private setting. The exhibition directly relates to contemporary art in its most recent manifestations, which have transformed collectors' lifestyles. Some, whether for intellectual or personal reasons or through practical considerations, no longer live with their works. Others, in an age-old tradition, accumulate. Most are at a halfway point which is to conserve, loan and also store works. This project is by no means intended as an "inventory". Nor does it claim any exhaustivity or even exemplarity in the collections it has chosen to show. It makes no attempt to establish a hierarchy: the exhibited works are taken from collections of different size and value. It does not advocate any preconceived idea of what defines a collection, impossible as there are as many collections as there are collectors. Each one is unique. L'intime therefore reveals sixteen discrete entities, which explains why each room is positioned distinctly from the others. And because the objective is not to present "decors", there has been no attempt at detailed reconstruction of the rooms. By bringing the visitor face to face with the "collection" as it is in the collector's home, the exhibition confronts them with a usually hidden dimension: works in their everyday environment, with none of the neutrality one usually expects of a museum, gallery or catalogue. On the contrary, each work is shown in its relation to a place, its functions, furniture, the imprint of those who live there, and to other works. Thus the spectator can imagine and better grasp the founding principle behind the collection: the personality that brought these works together.
L'Intime, le collectionneur derrier la porte, 2004, installation view,
La Maison Rouge-Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris
L'Intime, le collectionneur derrier la porte, 2004, installation view, La Maison Rouge-Fondation
Antoine de Galbert, Paris
L'Intime, le collectionneur derrier la porte, 2004, installation view,
La Maison Rouge-Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris
L'Intime, le collectionneur derrier la porte, 2004, installation view,
La Maison Rouge-Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris