CCA Events
CCA Wattis Institute Presents: Claire Fontaine
The Exhibition Formerly Known as Passengers
June 2–July 2, 2009
Wattis Institute, San Francisco campus
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Reception: Tues., June 2, 7 p.m.
Hours: Tues. and Thur., 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Wed., Fri., and Sat., 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Info: 415.551.9210 or www.wattis.org
Free and open to the public
This exhibition is part of The Exhibition Formerly Known as Passengers, a constantly transforming show featuring emerging international contemporary artists. A new presentation opens to the public on the first Tuesday of every month, with a short artist talk at 7 p.m. followed by a reception.
The French artist Claire Fontaine responds in her work to a feeling of political impotency in contemporary culture. She is motivated by the history of radical protest, particularly the Paris student uprisings of May 1968, and also by the art of that era. Her work is not so much about nostalgia for the specific historical moment of the late 1960s; it is intended, rather, as a reminder of a time when art carried an urgent political message.
Equivalent VIII (2007) is composed of bricks wrapped in book covers from texts of radical literature. Referencing the bricks thrown by the 1968 Paris protesters, these texts have become devices of dissent both symbolically and literally. The work is also an homage to Carl Andre's 1966 series of the same title, in which 120 bricks are presented in various rectangular configurations. Fontaine thus merges the political with the purely formal and minimal.
Fontaine is also influenced by the social anarchist idea that ownership is theft. Passe-partout (Frankfurt) (2008) is a set of hacksaw blades, paper clips, and other tools for opening locked doors accompanied by her video Instructions for the Sharing of Private Property (2006), which demonstrates how to pick a lock.
Foreigners Everywhere (Arabic) (2005) is from a series of neon signs designed by the artist stating the title in various languages. The series specifically references immigration issues and the anxiety surrounding foreign terrorist threats, but also more generally the human tendency to regard the unfamiliar with suspicion.
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