Thierry Fournier
Born in 1960, Thierry Fournier is a French artist and curator living and working in the Paris area. Formerly an architect, he holds an Architecture degree from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture in Lyon. His works address the limits of what is human, of otherness and of sociality, and how these questions are rehearsed in a context reconfigured by technology. His installations, objects, videos, photographs and performances modify or displace existing objects in order to highlight the issues implicit within them. His work uses these situations to offer a perspective on the relationships between individuals, society, nature and artefacts.
As a curator, he addresses these questions through collective forms, approaching the exhibition as a medium and focusing on the exhibition experiences of spatiality and temporality. He also co-initiates collective projects relating to curating, publishing and the art economy (Artem Collection, Echolalie, Pandore, Économie Solidaire de l’Art, etc.). Together with art critic J. Emil Sennewald, he co-heads the Displays research group at EnsadLab/Ensad (Paris), dedicated to the exhibition forms and practices. He is also a lecturer at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art et de Design de Nancy and Sciences Po Paris.
His work is regularly exhibited in France and abroad. Recent exhibitions include ZKM (Karlsruhe), Saarlandisches Künstlerhaus (Saarbrücken), Ososphère and the Opéra National du Rhin (Strasbourg) , Alma (Paris), Lo Pati (Amposta), La Terrasse (Nanterre), Ars Santa Monica (Barcelona), etc.
“The invitation offered by Le Fresnoy for this double experiment resonates in a very singular way with the constant dialogue that I pursue, between my practice as an artist and curator, and my research and creative projects involving students, artists, authors and researchers, with a view to initiating a reflection on contemporary art through practice. The other point of intersection concerns the role of the digital. The specific interplay between art, cinema and the digital developed at Le Fresnoy confronts the evolution of the cultural industries and the Internet, as technology and immersion have also become powerful vectors of control and capture. In this context, I am more interested in the ways art can stimulate critical thought about technologies and their impact on identities and socialities than in the ‘augmentation’ of its forms, which is characteristic of the modernist approach to digital arts. Last but not least, I think it is essential to pay attention to the economy of works (in the broad sense) and to the ways of thinking about their exhibition – two issues that can also be the subject of collective discussions.
As I write this text, my own project is still in process. Its form may evolve somewhere between 3D, video game, film and installation. I obviously desire to experience the Fresnoy environment but I would also like to make it react to external objects or agents – exactly how, I do not yet know. For my work with the artists/students as well as for my own project, my reflection would thus be structured by these critical relations between art, cinema and cultural industries, the works and their exhibition, in parallel with the questions raised by the artists/students themselves. "
Edwin Carels
University College Ghent - Faculty of Fine Arts