Alexis Gautier at M

Why is collaboration so important to you?

"For many reasons, all of which are intertwined. I believe in a polycentric view of the world, with infinite points of view. That approach encourages me to question what I know and how I understand the world every time. It's a matter of being open, of remaining vulnerable, even."

"Collaboration also asks questions about the idea of authorship: whose voice is it? In China in the ninth century, there were artists hiking through the mountains and splitting stones in two. A relief, a kind of landscape, was then created on the fracture surface, and they signed it as their creation. Interesting definition of authorship, I think."

Do the people you work with see themselves as your equal? Are they doing their own thing, or are they just trying to figure out how you mean something, or what you want them to do?

"I try to be transparent. I connect the people I work with, creating a kind of collective writing space. I also send them a description of the museum, the exhibition space, the other works... It is important to accept the loss of control. It's an examination of power relations, in the two directions."

But the exhibition bears your name, the initiative comes from you ... You are the pivot of the collaboration. That gives you a special place, doesn't it?

"I may be a bit of a choreographer, they way Pina Bausch did it. In 2012 I spent time with her company to observe her working methods. I found it very inspiring how she made space for the intentions and voices of others. She did not impose movements on her dancers, but asked questions. Each dancer was given time to formulate an answer and then dance it for her. Then the selection phase followed. Sometimes the proposals existed together on stage, or were doubled by different dancers, or just on their own... Her role was to invite other people to make their voices heard. But at the same time, the whole process was a constant dialogue with her."

How do you see the role of the visitor? As another co-author?

"Yes. For me, the visitor is central to the work. In my view, the exhibition at M is a kind of abstract film set in which people can make their own connections between the objects and build up their own story. As the American poet C.A. Conrad says: ‘A thousand readers, a thousand poems.’ Each visitor creates his own experience, his own exhibition.”

"A while ago I had an exhibition at Island, a non-profit art space in Brussels. I had built a wall in the middle of the room, so that it was neatly divided into two equal parts. You had two doors, one on the left as you came in and one on the right. The door on the left read 'Told'; on the right 'Shown'. I was on the Told-space. When the visitors chose that door, I gave them a tour of an empty space. I took them to an empty space and told them all about the corresponding object in the Shown-space: the materials, who had worked on it, how the idea had come about... If you chose the Shown-door, you were shown the objects, but without any text or explanation. Or rather stripped of my own projections. My hope was that the exhibition would exist not in one of the rooms, but in the experience of the visitors, which they could share with each other. As well as in the gaps and overlaps of their experience."

Is there some kind of concept behind your exhibition at M?

"That one was conceived as a collectively written fiction story. The co-authors are also the protagonists, the main characters. For example, the Indian women provided the storyboard. With a group of Chinese ceramists, I collaborated on sculptures that serve as meeting points, almost as scenery."

"The floor of the film set, so to speak, was born out of a collaboration with Richard Tuttle, an American artist who generally makes minimal, poetic work. The space we use had been blacked out for video projections for years. For me it was important to bring the light inside, but also to make the surroundings visible, to re-establish a relationship with the world outside. When we had opened up the space, I thought: I'll invite Richard to make a work using the windows as a surface. His reply, by mail: ‘It could be paint, it could be drawing, it could be the floor itself. Who knows?’ (laughs)”

"From that answer, the work on the floor was created: large circles on which terracotta fragments are scattered. For me, his answer was actually ideal, because he went around the question. Thus, he brought a completely different perspective. It has given us a work that makes much more sense for the whole. We created a set together - the fertile ground for the exhibition."

Set, props, storyboard, protagonists...: you use film terms when you talk about your show.

"I'm interested in storytelling. How fiction and reality seep into each other. How stories are created and transformed,  and I like to think about that in film terms. But I'm more concerned with the idea of the cinematic than film itself. That you see the windows as a lens. The exhibition space as the body of a camera, in which the light moves around the people, who in turn move around the objects. How all of that is picked up by our eyes, which again you can think of as a camera."

You named the exhibition "L'Heure de la Soupe"? Why?

"To me, that's a poem you shouldn't try to explain. I want to leave room for the visitor."

Finally: M supported upcoming artists during the lockdown by purchasing work from them. You were among those artists. How did you experience that?

"It's been a difficult time for everyone, including artists. That's why that commitment from M was so important."

"I think M moves very smoothly between very different activities - exhibitions of international artists, historical exhibitions, and above all: offering a platform to the young generation. 'The Constant Glitch', the exhibition of those purchases, was also an excellent excuse to visit M and meet all those other artists."

Playgroundfestival: 11.11 - 14.11.2021

Alexis Gautier's 'L'Heure de la Soupe': 17.09.2021 - 20.03.2022