Béatrice Balcou
Art Center
from 11 Nov 2018 to 10 Feb 2019 - Centre d'art
solo show
with artworks by Valérian Goalec and Kazuko Miyamoto
In her first major exhibition in France Béatrice Balcou brings a personal sensibility to bear on the issues of vulnerability, caring and mediation.
Via performances, sculptures, drawings and installations Balcou creates situations involving new exhibition rituals that challenge our way of looking and perceiving. Orchestrating different relationships between art, work and repose, she blurs the accepted distinctions between the habitual rules governing production, distribution and consumption.
Her Cérémonies Sans Titre [Untitled Ceremonies] are performances using a work of art not her own, from a public or private collection. They give rise to a characteristic time frame built around a specific event: the exhibiting of the work of art. Through precise, subtle gestures Balcou explores not only the question of attentiveness to the artwork's materiality, but also the behaviour of the person looking at it. Here the artwork is not some ephemeral image to be cursorily glanced at or consumed, but something physical and tangible to be taken care of and to spend time with.
Following her presentation of Cérémonie Sans Titre #10 at La Ferme du Buisson in 2017, Balcou is returning with a mix of works old and new. Following the line of the very recent Pièces Assistantes [Assistance Pieces], she questions us as to how a "work" can be made out of assistance or mediation without relinquishing its artistic status; and further, how stances of withdrawal, discretion and silence can become a force in their own right.
in partnership with Villa Kujoyama - Kyoto and MAC VAL, Val-de-Marne Contemporary Art Museum
with the support of Flanders State of the Art
sun 11 nov 2018 / 3:00 – 7:30 pm
exhibition opening
shuttle from Paris - Opéra Bastille (book ahead)
sun 2 dec 2018 / 2:00 & 4:00
MAC VAL, Val-de-Marne Contemporary Art Museum
Béatrice Balcou
performance
Untitled Ceremony #14
in the framework of « Attention Fragile »
admission free, but seating limited, booking : reservation@macval.fr
sam 8 dec 2018 at 4 pm
discussion: Béatrice Balcou and sociologist Yaël Kreplak
launch of Digressions #6
(conversation: Béatrice Balcou with Christophe Gallois, Emilie Renard and Julie Pellegrin)
sat 9 feb 2019 at 3 pm
Béatrice Balcou
performance
Untitled Ceremony #14
admission free, but seating limited – book ahead
TaxiTram
date to be decided
information and bookings: tram-idf.fr
family tours/workshops
age 3+, according to what's on offer: tactile, meditative and collaborative workshops focusing on gesture, listening and attentiveness
Christmas break: 22, 23, 27, 28, 29 dec 2018 / 3, 4, 5 jan 2019
5 € per child but places are limited – book ahead
guided tours
– "new-style" tour every Saturday at 4 pm
– guided tours whenever you like
groups
– book in advance: rp@lafermedubuisson.com
infos pratiques
from 11 nov 2018 to 10 feb 2019
opening sun 11 nov at 3 pm
free admission
allez plus loin
Béatrice Balcou
Born in Tréguier (France) in 1976, Béatrice Balcou now lives and works in Brussels.
After studying visual arts at university in Rennes and Paris, she took the Ex.e.r.ce postgraduate course at the National Choreography Centre in Montpellier in 2007, working under Mathilde Monnier and Xavier Le Roy. Since then she has been granted residencies in France, Belgium and elsewhere, notably in Japan (2009), at FRAC Franche-Comté (2011) and at Casino Luxembourg (2014).
Her recent monographic exhibitions include Double Suicide with Yuki Okumura at Kumagusuku in Kyoto (2018); Béatrice Balcou – Kazuko Miyamoto at L’Iselp in Brussels (2016) and Exile gallery in Berlin (2017); Walk in Beauty at Casino Luxembourg Contemporary Art Forum (2014); Calme, luxe et volupté at Le Quartier Centre for Contemporary Art in Quimper (2014); and Chaque Chose En Son temps at FRAC Franche-Comté in Besançon (2013).
Her works are to be found in numerous private and public collections and over the last few years have featured in group shows including Plateforme de jeux at the Centre Pompidou in Paris (2015), Un-Scene III at Wiels Contemporary Art Centre in Brussels (2015), Des choses en plus, des choses en moins at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2014), Temps Libre (Partitions Performance) at Fondation Ricard in Paris (2011), Tes Mains dans Mes chaussures at La Galerie in Noisy-le- Sec/Paris (2016–2017), Playground at M-Museum Leuven (2014) and Sculpter, faire à l’atelier at FRAC Brittany in Rennes (2018).
In 2018, Béatrice Balcou and Yuki Okumura were selected for residencies at Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto. In parallel with her exhibition at La Ferme du Buisson she is preparing a number of Untitled Ceremonies for the new premises of the National Centre for the Visual Arts in Pantin, Attention Fragile at MAC VAL, Val-de-Marne Contemporary Art Museum and Performatik 19 – the Brussels Biennale of Performance Art (Kaaitheater/Villa Empain).