The Saturday 15th of August 2009 the Finissage (ceremonial ending of art exhibitions) the big finale of the Cycle of Mutation program took place in Transplant. Discovered for the last time the art pieces in the Disappearing theme, which marks the end of the past two years of the art program. Two special guests were making performances specially created for this event: the pionner culinary french designer Marc Bretillot (Fr) and performance artist Fanny Holmin (No). Thanks to all being there and mark this transition of Transplant.

© Photographies: Transplant  & Vasco Pinhol

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Birgitta Ralston interviewed on NRK P1 the 31th of July 2009 (© NRK 2009) Download the mp3 clicking here.

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Snapshots

To see the all details about the Cycle of Mutation Finissage, click here …

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March 2009 to august 2009

“We die from the moment of our birth and are being born until we die.” (Martin Heidegger)

As we enter the third millennium the death instinct is the order of the day. This, our hypothesis, is in no way pessimistic or sinister: our desire for death has a teleological goal (to be reborn).

“Life is a constant struggle against extinction, a violent yet fleeting deliverance from ever-lurking night, this death is no external enemy, it is his own inner longing for the stillness and profound peace of all-knowing non-existence, for all-seeing sleep in the ocean of coming to be and passing away.”
(Carl Gustav Jung)

The death instinct does not lead necessarily or directly to self-destruction or murder. It may take unforeseen detours and pass through reversible states, if we agree that in sleep, play, dreams, or orgasm, we temporarily take leave of life.

The complex modalities of the death instinct include the power of negation, of subverting reality, the faculty of temporarily removing oneself or disconnecting from it. In this sense, artistic creation the in essence favors shadow over light and the imaginary over the real. Derives from the death instinct,- just as language and a fortiori intelligence do.

“Art begins where life leaves off.” (Richard Wagner)

Over the course of a few months (March-August 2009), we will try to assure the triumph of the death instinct which drives us to retreat, to retrench the spectacular, and to play on Maurice Blanchot’s paradox: if death is the real, and the real is the impossible, we are approaching the thought of the impossibility of death. In terms of the site, the surrounding, and the hosts will strive to curb the syndrome of Bartleby who “would prefer not to” and organized an encounter with the real based on ephemeral, yet fundamental, gestures.

Béatrice Josse
Director of Frac Lorraine / Metz, France

You can download the program as pdf here.

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This program is funded by:

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name: Hammering Wall
type of work: video art
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name: Crystal glasses
type of work: sculpture
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name: Decomposing wall
type of work: installation
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name: Spur, Schneefleck
type of work: photography
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name: The invisible piece
type of work: invisible piece
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name: morse code
type of work: sound installation
more information …

name: Autobiographical fragments
type of work: installation
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Klaus Speidel was on a short term residency at Transplant.
During his stay he worked on autobiographical fragments with texts and objects.
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“I was born in the late seventies. I believe that my generation has more than any generation before
been subject to a number of technological revolutions which concerned our everyday existence.
Universal human desires, like sexual and social recognition, have continued to play an important role
for us, but another type of desire has occurred, which might have been more superficial, but which
still has occupied our minds, and which was much more exteriorized: the desire to possess a gadget,
a technical device whose possession, we believed, would change our lives for the better, give us richer experiences, make us more successful, or simply make certain tasks easier. Each object would blend
into our lives as we already lived them, but also transform them. A personal reflection on the impact of technology might reveal some of the constants that can explain the tremendous success of objects like
the video-recorder, the Game Boy. What objects are they associated with? What practices are they associated with? What do they reveal about their time? What desires do they satisfy? What use are they put to? What are the frustrations they provoke? How does their success end and what replaces them?”

(Klaus Speidel)

One of his autobiographical fragments was to work on a pocket calculator (see the picture above).

Pocket Calculator I

When I was ten, my parents took me to Transcendental Meditation and foreign words like Arati and Shanti were part of my everyday reality. A new age had finally started in long post war Germany and
my dad’s real estate business was going well. It was when people started to understand that placing orders with the universe was better than wishing and I devoured books with white wolves. I believed that if I had not been elected, I should at least have some paranormal faculties. I never actually stopped our old clock from ticking, but with some training I was able to deform spoons at dinner without touching them and at school I sometimes made my teacher forget to give us homework. When we went to a tombola where a pocket-calculator could be won I put myself on trial. The lottery took place at a fair with local companies, carpenters, painters, insurance people, plumbers, and electricians. I was determined to win the calculator and it didn’t come as much of a surprise to me when I won. I only felt a bit bad for having cheated by using my mental force. Fortunately the calculator was prize 5 to 25, so common people still had had a chance. Having won had made me perfectly happy and even though I don’t remember ever using it to do any calculus, I do remember the object very well. The calculator was pretty small and made of cold metal but came with a black plastic protection that could be flipped open. It had the address of the company who had sponsored it. A strong and tight transparent plastic strap held the calculator in place so it didn’t slip out. I could hardly slide my finger under the strap but I sometimes did and somehow liked the feeling. I remember trying to pull the calculator out of its place, and having the plastic strap go between the buttons. But whenever it was completely out, it looked much more fragile and insignificant. I later realized that most objects look bigger and more serious with protection cases that you can flip open.
The preliminary gesture necessary to its use makes the object seem more valuable. In many cases, this gesture might be found to be at least as important as all protective functions.

(Klaus Speidel)

name: Deception Island
type of work: sculpture

more information …

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David Renaud was on a short term residency at Transplant.
During his stay he worked on a project called “Deception Island”,
a project he started before with Frac Lorraine.

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David Renaud questions geographical codifications,
through maps, relief models, or painting.

Deception Island is based on a text of Edgar Allan Poe, “The Adventure of Arthur Gordon Pym”.
In The end of his journey it ecxtends into southern seas and discovers a world entirely white.
The novel ends at this moment, the mystery remains..

name: Plank #1
type of work: Performance

more information …

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DISAPPEARANCE: This performance is done by repeating minimalized acts that have disappearance as their theme, acts that are or try to become disappearance. I don´t think I will disappear, but I will try to understand and make the essence of disappearance. I am disappearance in visual form and I practice disappearance.

AVOIDING: Avoiding is the phase before disappearance. Avoiding an unnoticeable slide into disappearance at the same moment as disappearance happens. But the avoided will not aim to disappear as the one who avoids is making an active act. This action, however it finally manifests itself, wants to hide or show something. Whether these actions are in reconciliation or in fear is undecided.  In the space between the two of them is the unknown void that may turn into words.

(Fanny Holmin 2009)

name: Untitled
type of work: Food Design Performance

more information …

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Marc Bretillot designed during the finissage of Disappearance an exiting feast table. His food tricked our minds and eyes with its colors and tastes. The performance made a interesting point on the whole Cycle of Mutation. You can see more pictures of his work on the finissage section.

name: Dale Pathway
type of work: performance

more information …

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Jean-Christophe Norman was on a short term residency at Transplant. During that time he realized various projects related to time and to a very personal story of himself. He performed at Transplant
“Day and Night” a 24 hour writing of day, date, hour, minute and second.

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(sequence of “Day and Night” by Jean-Christophe Norman)

” The fact that my participation omen to the “disappearance” is a personal story, a turning point
in my life that I wanted to relate with plastic means to my business as an artist.

The history of a disease that has found solution for operating a gesture.This “gesture” has its reality etched on my chest. A scar which has two half circles which decides and gives intimate view a reality, which represents an alteration of the body and a change of a practice of life.

I decided to carry tranposer and the existential moment in the Norwegian landscape. I will set out a
scale of 1 line on the map of surrounding Dale. Then he is to follow precisely the trace on the ground
in the mountains and valleys. A long road accident. The means used to realize this course has been the photography and design. All photographs focus on the midnight shift. The duration of sunshine
is very long this time of year in Norway, I opted for this time of day and night are almost indisociables and together they embody an otherness in time. The drawings are made on the basis of the impression.
They are evidenced in rubbings of the highest points of the route.
They are kind of sutures space and time.

( Jean-Christophe Norman 2009)
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(graphite rubbing on paper still from “Dale Pathway”, 50x65cm, courtesy  Jean-Christophe Norman 2009)
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( photograph still from “Dale Pathway”, 18x25cm, lambda print, courtesy  Jean-Christophe Norman 2009)