The Fly Agaric Show
9 July – 30 August 2010
The Project #2
Pavillon Bosio
Ecole Supérieure d’Arts Plastiques
de la ville de Monaco
1, Avenue des Pins,
MC 98000 Monaco
[email protected]
http://www.mpamonaco.com
Members of the association are part of a cultural network that supports the Ecole Supérieure d’Arts Plastiques, the only art school in the principality that offers Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts programmes.
The MPA enables artists, students, collectors, curators, professionals from private and public institutions to meet with its members, and share ideas through lectures, debates, film viewings, visits of museums and private collections and cultural trips.
The MPA also provides bursaries, work experience programmes and organises collaborations between students, artists and art organisations.
In 2009, conferences were organised in collaboration with Artcurial, to present an overview of art in the 20th century, and in 2010 conferences will be hosted in collaboration with Christie’s.
The Monaco Project for the Arts includes 100 members from different nationalities, all art passionates, mostly collectors and benefactors that are part of the multinational community of the principality, always willing to participate actively in events to promote art and education.
Every summer the MPA organises an exhibition called the Project.
An artist is invited to create a site-specific project at a school in collaboration with its students. This year’s artist is Belgian artist Carsten Höller.
Carsten Höller holds a doctorate in biology, and uses his training as a scientist in his work as an artist. He is constantly testing his theories concerning human perception and physiological reactions. His works mostly operate between half scientific experiment and half sensual encounter, always analyzing the nature of human emotions.
The Fly Agaric Show / L’Exposition Amanite Tue-mouche is an exhibition that looks at all aspects of his work around the theme of the Amanita muscaria mushroom, which occupies an important part of his art.
A selection of 6 major works and 2 videos will be shown: a collage of three reproductions of giant mushrooms, one of them being the fly-agaric mushroom (Giant Triple Mushroom, 2010); a glass case with 24 original replicas of mushrooms, half of them being fly-agarics (Doppelpilzvitrine, 2010); a suitcase with the cast of a fly-agaric mushroom which can be placed on the ground and moves according to solar energy (Pilzkoffer, 2008), a composition of 6 photographs representing a woman holding a fly-agaric mushroom and a reindeer (Soma Series, 2008); a series of 12 photo-engravings of fly-agaric mushrooms in their natural environment (Mushroom Print, 2003); and finally videos showing the artist under the influence of the psychedelic components of a fly-agaric mushroom (Muscimol, 1996)…
Works revealing the cultural, historical, pharmacological and magical aspects of the red and white mushroom that has also inspired the legend of Father Christmas among many other interesting tales.
Carsten Höller has then invited the students of l’Ecole Supérieure d’Arts Plastiques de la Ville de Monaco to work freely around the theme of Amanita muscaria and participate in the exhibition.
Yet another experiment! Their projects: drawings, paintings, photography, videos or sculptures will be shown alongside his works, creating a creative dialogue throughout the months of July and August.
http://www.mpamonaco.com
Photo:© VG Bild Kunst
