Suzanne Lafont, How Things Think, 2021, Exhibition views, Erna Hecey Gallery
For this informal conversation, Suzanne Lafont and Corinne Diserens will depart from the current exhibition How Things Think at Erna Hecey to discuss central elements of Lafont's practice. Artist and curator will argue in favour of the spectator's agency over contemplation, and talk about the prominence of performance and rehearsal over the finished theatrical spectacle. The conversation will touch upon the representation of identities and their inherent instability (subject/object, passive/active, animate/inanimate), and the constant and ever-changing interplay of elements in Lafont's photographic practice.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Since the 1980s, Suzanne Lafont's practice has influenced the history of contemporary photography by questioning modes of visual representation and processes of images construction. Well known for her conceptual work on images and narrative composition of theatrical scenes, she turned to the visual arts following literary and philosophical studies. Her recent work develops the fictional aspect of images, exploring the ludic potential of illusion.
She participated in documenta IX (1992) and documenta X (1997), and had solo exhibitions at Carré d’Art-Musée d’art contemporain, Nîmes, France (2015), Mudam-Musée d’art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg (2011), Pinacotheca do Estado, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2004), Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France (1994), MoMA-Museum of Modern Art New York, NY (1992), to name a few.
She participated in documenta IX (1992) and documenta X (1997), and had solo exhibitions at Carré d’Art-Musée d’art contemporain, Nîmes, France (2015), Mudam-Musée d’art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg (2011), Pinacotheca do Estado, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2004), Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France (1994), MoMA-Museum of Modern Art New York, NY (1992), to name a few.
Corinne Diserens is currently the director of ENSAPC-École nationale supérieure d’arts de Paris-Cergy. She was curator of Taipei Biennial 2016 and, between 2011 and 2016, the director of ERG-École supérieure des arts in Brussels. From 1989 to 1993, Diserens was curator at IVAM, Valencia; between 1996 and 2008 she directed the Musées de Marseille and the Musée des beaux-arts de Nantes, the opening of the new Museion in Bolzano, and organised international co-productions for MACBA, Barcelona. She has curated retrospectives of seminal artists, biennials and thematic exhibitions as well as directed numerous publications and research projects.
