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The 10th Lyon Biennale 2009 dominated by young talent
Eko Nugroho’s Cut the Mountain and Let It Fly mural along the outer wall of the Sucrière
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Eko Nugroho’s Cut the Mountain and Let It Fly mural along the outer wall of the Sucrière.
Biennales usually choose to have prominent, well-known and experienced curators to set a theme that reflects the needs of the time.
Unlike past Lyon biennales, which had themes like History, Globalization or Temporality, and were curated by prominent figures like Harold Szeemann, Jean Hubert-Martin, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and others, the 10th Lyon Biennale, currently on show, was put together by the visionary Hou Hanru, who recognizes that art is rapidly becoming part of the contemporary lifestyle.
Selecting mostly young talent (except for Agnès Varda, b. 1928, and Sarkis, b. 1938) with most of the 70 artists coming from nonwestern cultural backgrounds – although many of them live and work in the West, the exhibition titled “The Spectacle of the Everyday” shows a general homogeneity of contemporary works rarely seen in other biennales so far. Opened on Sept. 16, 2009, the biennale will close on Jan. 3, 2010.
Among the most visible artists from the East is certainly Eko Nugroho, whose 70x15-meter-long mural on the outer wall of the Sucrière, the largest exhibition space of the biennale, is spectacular.
Cut the Mountain and Let It Fly is the title of the work facing the landscape across the river Saône, which flows in front of the Sucrière. Eko is also a star of the Veduta project in Vaulx-en-Velin, where he resided and worked with immigrant residents.
Together they created a shadow puppet show, combining the Javanese wayang kulit, the Lyon Guignol theater folklore and their joint imaginations. Excerpts of Rainbow under the Stone are shown within this building.
The Veduta is one of the projects bringing art to the people to spur creative thinking and bring luster to their everyday life. Other artists in residence were Bik van der Pol, at the Grand Parc, and Robert Milin in Lyon 8 and Venissieux.
The Sucrière, an old sugar factory used as a warehouse until the 1990s when it was converted into a 7,000-square-meter art space, holds the largest part of the works in this exhibition. Entering it is like visiting a construction site, with the banging noise of Indian artist Shilpa Gupta’s (b. 1976) iron gate pervading the space, supposedly a strong critique of the prevailing social and political situation.
Eko’s puppet shadow play excerpts reminds us this is an exhibition space, as does the large black board with humorous images put together by the Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi (b. 1961), of an artistic as well as political nature. “Those who bought a piece of the Berlin wall between 1990 and 2009 are kindly requested to return them to reconstruct the wall,” says one message.
But it is the spectacular installation of Sarah Sze (b. 1969) that stands out in particular to illustrate the spectacle of everyday life. Her work titled Untitled (Portable Planetarium), featuring a large ephemeral architectural design with books and other kinds of household matters in it, gives the impression of a giant bird nest, while from another angle the artwork looks like a globe.
Inspired by the cycle of renewal and re-consecration experienced in a Shinto ceremony, it is meant to celebrate the life of things by regenerating them. After dismantling the work, the materials will be used in another place, for another work of art, engendering new life.
Disturbing, but beautiful photographs by Algerian Adel Abdessemed (b. 1971) who lives and works in Paris and New York, show exotic animals in urban settings portraying animal violence. His freehand drawing of a cortex transferred into white neon initially appears esthetic, but quickly becomes a depiction of the dual nature of man, both animal and human, accompanied by two short films identifying vulnerability and terror.
Guanzhou- and New York-based artist Lin Yilin’s (b. 1964) video still, One Day, features a young man handcuffed to his ankles on the Champs Elysées surrounded by people oblivious to his situation. The still comes from One Day, a video made in 2006 in Southern China, and shot again in Paris for the Lyon Biennale.
No doubt the works of Barry Mc Gee (b. 1966) enliven and uplift the mood in the space, appearing a bit messy, just as street art should be, but perfectly finished: cars upside down yet arranged neatly. The glaring colors of graphic design patterns may be uplifting but also confusing at some point.
On the other hand, Hiroshima-born and based Takahiro Iwasaki (b. 1975) presents objects evoking the meditative as a refined craftsmanship in Lilliputian objects and a sense of the poetic, such as the Edinburgh castle in miniature emerging from a black garbage bag, or the Lilliputian telecommunication towers on a bunch of bath towels.
Going up the narrow sparsely lit staircase to the second floor, one arrives at an installation that fills the space. Made by Kenyan born, New York-based Wangechi Mutu (b. 1972), the urban scene where hoses leaking water from the river Saône lie curled on the floor, while a “curtain” of firefly light bulbs, almost touching the ground, is aesthetic despite the flooded floor.
A digital video of text by Guangdong born, Hong Kong-based Tsang Kinwah (b. 1976) projected against the wall in a dark space is impressive, appearing like fire tongs springing up from the ground. Reminiscent of excavated corpses, the delicate blue decorations on about 100 porcelain disassembled human skeletons displayed in wooden boxes by Yang Jiechiang (b. 1956), immortalize the tragedy that unfurled in Tiananmen.
Mexican artists Pedro Reyes (b. 1972) brings forward human rights and environmental issues with a stirring installation of shovels made of melted illegal weapons supporting a tree-planting project.
The Belgian senior artist Agnès Varda (b. 1928), is the oldest in the biennale. Though known as a filmmaker, she ventures into building a cabana, a hut built entirely of 35-millimeter film, where images capture the light.
Meanwhile in the Museum of Contemporary Art, the work of French Sylvie Blocher (b. 1953), a photo featuring a figure, welcomes visitors by singing the praises of Obama’s rise to the presidency.
The installation of the Javanese Royal phantom guards in Java’s machine: Phantasmagoria, by Indonesian artist Jompet Kuswidananto (b. 1976) speaks of the hybrid nature and syncretism of Javanese culture, to denote that there is no such thing as a “pure” culture.
Mounir Fatmi (b. 1970), who lives between Tangiers and Paris, focuses on duplication and the erasing of one’s memory, in his work of VHS cassettes, a serpentine overlay of videotapes and photocopy machines.
The increasing numbers of immigrants in Europe, and France in particular, is almost changing the color of the population. Malaysian artist Wong Hoy Cheong (b. 1960) visualizes the changing face of Europe by appropriating paintings from the Modern Museum of Art, from which he replaces the “white” figures with models from ex-French colonies in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
At the Bichat warehouse, Pedro Cabrita Reis (b. 1956 in Lisbon) lights up the onetime arsenal with strips of neon lights floating in the air or lying on the floor in an artistic composition.
This is perhaps the first biennale of this kind in France, or even in Europe. There is no doubt the event attracted much attention, judging by the stream of visitors who entered the Sucrière with me in late October.
— Photos by Carla Bianpoen
With most of the 70 artists coming from nonwestern cultural backgrounds, the exhibition shows a general homogeneity of contemporary works rarely seen in other biennales so far.
