White Spirit
15 - 30 May 2004
FRAC Lorraine
After years of “extra muros” activities, on the 15th of May 2004 the FRAC Lorraine (Institute for Contemporary Art from the Lorraine region – France) will open its new space: “49 Nord 6 Est” in Metz!
Opening on Saturday the 15th of May at 11 a.m.
White Spirit Night the 15th of May from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Designed as a path leading the visitor from the heart of the building to the public spaces, and vice versa, the opening project White Spirit – 15 to 30th of May 2004- is a project that spills out into the city, an event with a federative purpose involving the privileged public of the Frac: not just the friends, but also tradesmen’s associations in the nearby streets, the people involved in the city’s art and culture scene – over a common project with the same energy. We’re going to paint the town white !!!
In the space:
White Spirit… like the smell that will be coming from the freshly repainted walls (Decosterd & Rahm, Nedko Solakov), and most of all with reference to this questioning of the exhibition space and the white cube (Dora Garcia). The neutral, anonymous space, precisely, of the white cube also becomes a space of perception playing on the spectator’s visual attention (Remy Zaugg), a space for the senses and even an exhibition space eroticised by the fragrances given off by the walls, and the human presence (Tino Sehgal).
Punctuated, formulated, determined by artists’interventions, the place will be transformed by Hans Schabus and closed off by Lawrence Weiner into a tour that will lead the visitor from the heart of the building to the public spaces (Stefanie Bourne, Alicia Framis…).
Ssh, we’ll say no more… the surprise is in, out of and behind the walls.
White Spirit in the public space
The public space has long been Frac Lorraine’s area for experimentation, and even its favourite playing field, so there is no way it is going to hide behind its brand new walls after so much hard work to get them! On the contrary, the very first project is an opportunity to mobilise public and institutions alike, to invest the empty spaces – from the sheet of paper to the street, the district and the city itself – on the theme of white.
Visual landmarks and artistic interventions will be disseminated, “distilled” all over the city centre and the public will be invited, Tom Thumb-like, to follow little white stones linking the various projects and venues. From Alicia Framis’ “Wall of Secrets” (Murmurs, 2000, Frac Lorraine collection) which is to collect anonymous messages and confidences, written by the public in invisible ink – to Stefanie Bourne’s “de Brut en Blanc” project (literally Crude in White, and a pun on “But en blanc” meaning Point Blank) the city will be dotted with artists’ projects. Lastly, the church of the Trinitarians, passing from the cultual to the cultural, will be showing a video programme on the white theme (Knut Asdam, Seifollah Samadian, Richard Serra…).
Contemporary Art Night – Saturday 15 May 2004
Artists, the general public, local inhabitants and our cultural partners will all be roped in to take part in this vast undertaking to “paint the town white” and night time festive and artistic emulation.
To keep everything swinging, DJs will be mixing through part of the night near the place.
Full programme available at www.fraclorraine.org
FRAC Lorraine is an association mainly funded by the Ministry of Culture and Lorraine Regional Council.
Address: 1bis rue des Trinitaires F-57000 Metz /
info@fraclorraine.org
