Fiction / Performed readings #2

As part of the initiatives conducted in association with the periodical "J'aime beaucoup ce que vous faites" ["I Like Your Work a Lot"], the Fiction / Lectures performées program ["Fiction / Performed Readings"] aims to experiment with the possible forms of a practice of public reading from the angle of visual arts. Public reading is a practice of literature very often offered within the framework of exchanges between writers and readers.

The modes of operation are often very limited: an author or a reader reads a text in public, sometimes with a staging of the text that can come close to theater. In the 1960s, some artists (Robert Filliou) and writers (William S. Burroughs, Bernard Heidsieck) took part in new attempts to make contemporary poetry public on the occasion of "poésie - action" events at the American Center on Boulevard Raspail. Already, during the early avant-gardes, Kurt Schwitters - among others - approached the question of voicing the text through sound poetry.

As it seeks to continue and further these experiments, the Fiction / Lectures performées program uses the diversity of current practices to raise the question of which types of artistic acts can best deal with the orality or the plasticity of the text. An experimental laboratory, the project brings together artists from different fields: visual artists, choreographers, writers, performers, each time questioning an original relation to reading and literature.

The Fondation d'entreprise Ricard welcomes the 2^nd season of Fiction / Lectures performées, a program initiated by Christian Alandete and Agnès Violeau, the founders of the periodical J'aime beaucoup ce que vous faites. The program aims to experiment with the possible forms of a practice of public reading from the angle of visual arts.

For this new installment of Fiction - Lectures Performées, Christophe Fiat is presenting "King Of Horror," a work created specially for the occasion. The starting point for the text, inspired by recent research on Stephen King, is 9/11 and the horror narratives spawned by the contemporary world - no longer to be found in books or films, but in reality itself.

Eve K. Tremblay is presenting "BF451 sur le divan par terre" ["BF451 on the Couch on the Floor"], a performance also created specially for Fiction - Lectures Performées around her project "Devenir Fahrenheit 451" ["Becoming Fahrenheit 451"].

Rainer Ganahl's video Bicycling Flann O' Brien will mark the beginning of this evening of performances.

BIOGRAPHIES

RAINER GANAHL

Austrian artist. Lives in New York City.

The work Rainer Ganahl has undertaken is mainly concerned with apprenticeship and the transmission of knowledge. Since the early 1990s he has studied a considerable number of languages and taken part in as many seminars and conferences, documenting everything in the form of photos, videos, installations, and performances.

Moreover, bicycling plays an essential part in the artist's activity and his visual vocabulary.

His video Bicycling Flann O' Brien will introduce this evening of performances.

Eve K. TREMBLAY

Born in 1972 in Val-David (Quebec, Canada). Lives and works between Berlin and Montreal.

Eve K. Tremblay has been developing the generic project titled "Devenir Fahrenheit 451" since 1997. Exploring Ray Bradbury's work in its slightest details so as to better memorize it, the artist experiments with a genuine mise en abyme of the novel. In the science-fiction narrative, books are banned and a community of men and women tries to resist by memorizing entire volumes. The project, begun in New York City before its presentation in Berlin and Oslo, has each time assumed different forms, combining photos, videos, drawings, and performances.

Prior to the performance created for the Fiction / Lectures Performées series, the artist has documented her preliminary work, which she published in the latest issue of J'aime beaucoup ce que vous faites. Her most recent exhibitions have been in New York City, Berlin, Reims (France), and Val-David.

CHRISTOPHE FIAT

Born in 1966 in Besançon. Lives and works in Paris.

Christophe Fiat is a writer and performer.

En 2005 he created Cloudbusters, an organization that develops artistic and literary projects such as performances La Jeune fille à la bombe ["The Young Woman with the Bomb"], Stephen King Stories (Festival d'Avignon, 2007), La Reconstitution historique ["The Historical Reconstruction"] (Théâtre de la Bastille, Paris, 2006), Isadora Duncan est une danseuse crackée (Parc de la Villette, Festival 100 dessus dessous, Paris, 2006). Cloudbusters is also involved in the publication of the periodical Mission Impossible, coedited with the CNEAI (Centre national de l'estampe et de l'art imprimé, the French national center for printed arts). Fiat has collaborated with various artists: Thomas Hirschhorn, Christelle Lheureux, Alexandre Périgot, and Massimo Furlan.

His latest book is La reconstitution historique, une aventure de Louise Moore (Limoges: Al Dante, 2006).