www.glassbox.fr/glassbox_2009/sans_2009_03.html
Aquarium
2009
THE RITTBERGER COMPLEX, or the infinite circle of the obstinates, exhibition around the Avicenna Foundation, curated by Glassbox (with the support of Dena Foundation, Paris)
Water color on glass
As part of its residency at the Cité Internationale, Glassbox „without walls“ invited 15 artists to make original proposals for the Avicenna Foundation‘s building. This student residence, designed by Claude Parent and André Bloc, was conceived according to a rare construction principle: from the top towards the bottom, the ceiling towards the floor, the sky towards the ground… The building is currently closed, awaiting renovation, and while withdrawn from its functionality, it is transformed into a field of experimentation where the artists taking hold of the edifice are converting its windows into showcases to accomodate their works.
The first series of installations were unveiled in October 2008, by the response of the collectif_fact (CH) to the invitation of Glassbox.
From June 27 to July 19, 2009, 15 artists besiege the Avicenna Foundation: Paola Anziché, Armand Behar, Pascal Bircher, Gosia Bojkowska, le Collectif KIT, Guillaume Goutal, Yann Lévy, Fabrice Panichi, Laurent Le Deunff, Emilie Schalck, Canelle Tanc, Fredéric Vincent, Julia Rometti et Victor Costales, (U)LS (Amélie et Alexandre Fauvet) appropriate the spaces of the building.
The works, finding their place in a structure that is inaccessible to the public, will be perceivable from the exterior, thus reversing the usual condition of exhibitions.
As surprising as it may seem, the title of this exhibition originates from the history of figure skating; carrying out a Rittberger means rotating around oneself. We insist on the importance of this pirouette as a metaphoric agent, for this is the only title that invokes as many shared qualities between the work of the invited artists, the identity of Glassbox recognized in the box made of glass, and the juvenile ardour that characterises the building conceived and built in the 1960s.
Furthermore, there may be another shared quality between the startling external staircase of the Avicenna Foundation and the Rittberger figure. This whimsical hypothesis is a delightful reversal capable of merging the places into a reserve for works extending the idea of the loop without formally adapting to it.
The loop and the trail are recurrent but not exclusive motives of the works brought together for this exhibition. It is also a characteristic of the path taken by the public that aims to discover them.
