Toxoplasma: Bric-à-Brac

“Like everywhere else, façades whitened by thermal fulgurations crumble like wet chalk. Statues’ faces blow away in the gusts of wind, like fine ashen powder, condemning gods and famous men to anonymity. Frescoes and architectural details themselves fade. Window panes melt into glass stalactites [1].”

The Bric-à-brac exhibition brings together heterogeneous processes and works. It has built itself by assembling a succession of invitations: from the 19, Crac to Juste Ici in Besançon as part of the 12th edition of their Bien Urbain festival, from Juste Ici to the Swedish artist duet Akay and Olabo now known as Toxoplasma, from Toxoplasma to multiple facets of the territory right down to the visitors.

Toxoplasma’s practice blends into the rhythm of everyday life. It is carried out most of the time according to principles of “discreet violation [2]”, indexical and anonymous. It explores marginal spaces such as abandoned warehouses, empty offices and disused stores. These post-industrial environments are the backdrop for explorations, experiments and artistic creations rooted in urban space.

Bric-à-brac is an exhibition conceived as a return trip between two geographies: one that the artists master and practice on a daily basis, where they live and work; the other discovered and surveyed on a one-off, ephemeral basis, host to an artistic project. Their particular approach to industrial wastelands, marginal urban areas and the dregs of consumer society was also applied to this second locality. The diverse realities of the post-industrial, Pays de Montbéliard generated a rich dialogue with their Stockholm-based practice of public art, which “needs/ provokes and creates conviction, movement, contradiction, sincere interest, dynamics, conflict, contact [3]”.

Adeline Lépine & David Demougeot, curators of the exhibition. Exhibition was produced thanks to the support of La Recyclerie des Forges Vélo and in partnership with Jaqu’auto.

[1] Serge Brussolo, Procédure d’évacuation immédiate des musées fantômes, Denoël, collection Présence du Futur, 1987. English translation suggested by the authors of the press release.

[2] The expression was coined by the American artist Gordon Matta-Clark (1943–78) who, despite his short career, had a resounding influence on both visual and urban artists. The expression “discreet violations” was used by the artist in an interview of 1978. (“Interview with Gordon Matta-Clark” in Gordon Matta-Clark, cat. exhibition : Valence, Marseille, London, 1992–93).

[3] Extract from one of the many explanatory panels created by artist Thomas Hirschhorn in connection with his artistic process, research and achievements. Mentions are from the Schema: Art-Public Space, 2016–22 available on his website.