The Sirens' Stage/Le Stade des Sirenes/Lo stato delle sirene

The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene
An exhibition in three parts by Etienne Chambaud in collaboration with critic Vincent Normand

Opening receptions, exhibition dates and more information:
David Roberts Art Foundation, London:
opening on 18.03.2010 from 7pm / 19.03.2010 – 24.04.2010

www.davidrobertsartfoundation.com

Kadist Art Foundation, Paris:
opening on 02.04.2010 / 03.04.2010 – 02.05.2010

www.kadist.org

Nomas Foundation, Rome:
opening on 15.04.2010 / 16.04.2010 – 14.05.2010

www.nomasfoundation.com

The David Roberts Art Foundation in London, Kadist Art Foundation in Paris and Nomas Foundation in Rome are pleased to present The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene, a fragmented exhibition by Etienne Chambaud in the framework of Vincent Normand’s project Permanent Exhibition, Temporary Collections. The three translations of the exhibition, interpreted in a different language almost simultaneously at each foundation, are based on mechanisms of writing and transcription. Translation should be considered both the medium and the shared language of the whole project.

The project takes its title from the mythological sirens’ song, which invents itself in the ear of its addressee. Here The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene is conceived as a group of “written objects”: absent but described, motionless but translated, unique but repeated, mute but transcribed.

The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene is made up of an installation of Figures, a group of named, empty plinths (The Reef ), which acts as a space from which are emitted layers of speech and text. Actors will occasionally interact with this space, reading, memorising and rehearsing fragments of script and dialogue. Sometimes The Reef will remain silent. A group of framed Instruction Pieces hung on the wall will outline a series of gestures and acts. These will change over the course of the exhibition. A writer (The Copyist), present at all times, will transcribe the evolution of the exhibition day after day. The foundations’ collections will be included through a series of photographs of their storages, in which all crates will be named (Stock Figures). A written contract, drawn up by a lawyer, will outline the conditions for the exchange and the conservation of copies of sculptures exchanged between the three foundations’ collections (The Exchange (The Horse, the Cobblestone, Above the Weather)).

The exhibition is a collection of narrative fragments, playing with accumulations and disappearances, survivals and hauntings. From inscription to oral tradition, polyphony to cacophony, The Sirens’ Stage/Le Stade des Sirènes/Lo stato delle sirene explores its own remains and is constructed on its own echoes, misunderstandings, partial interpretations and incomplete memories. The exhibition is conceived as a series of fossils organising their own archeology.

Notes to editors

Etienne Chambaud (born France, 1980) lives and works in Paris. Recent solo exhibitions include: The Certificates (with Nina Beier), CroyNielsen, Berlin (2010); Mais où est donc Ornicar, Espace Blank (curated by Christine Macel), Paris (2009); Color Suite, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2009). Recent group exhibitions include: The Store, Artissima, Turin (curated by Adam Carr) (2009); Un Nouveau Festival!, Centre George Pompidou, Paris (curated by Bernard Blistène) (2009); Labor, Labor, Mexico City (2009); Fax, The Drawing Center, New York (2009) and Torrance Art Museum, CA (2010), The Obstacle is Tautology, Tulips&Roses, Vilnius (curated by Benoît Maire),(2009); From a Distance, Wallspace Gallery, New York (curated by Vincent Honoré) (2007), 00s The history of a decade that has not yet been named, Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art (curated by Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Stéphanie Moisdon) (2007). Etienne Chambaud is represented by Labor, Mexico City

Vincent Normand (born France, 1985) is a writer and curator based in Paris and Lausanne. Co-editor of the magazine Criticism, his texts are published in various collective publications, and he contributes to magazines such as Kaleidoscope, May or Frog. He is actually initiating Permanent Exhibition, Temporary Collections, a theoretical itinerant structure that inaugurates its program with his collaboration with Etienne Chambaud on the occasion of The Sirens’ Stage.