ORLAN at the abbaye de Maubuisson

Mixed marriages, cohabitation and barbarian weddings

An exhibition by ORLAN
30 September 2009 – 8 March 2010

abbaye de Maubuisson,
the Val d’Oise Departmental Council
contemporary art site

ORLAN’s exhibition at the abbey focuses on two of the artist’s favourite modes of expression: video and above all sculpture, which the problems posed by the work’s relationship to the venue, crucial in the abbey’s highly singular the first person. Working in the heritage, formerly religious setting of the abbey, ORLAN has spaces, give her the opportunity to explore in depth. With the powerful questions they raise, the works – especially produced for the exhibition –demonstrate in various forms her direct, joyful and subversive way of creating art in created a project that mingles time periods, hybridises appearances and unites differences.

In the barn, a limousine, luxury item and symbol of marriage, made in front of a video projection entitled ORLAN remix: Romain Gary, Costa-Gavras, Deleuze and Guattari. This monumental installation with its strange poetry, a criticism of standardised social representations that emphasises the absurdity of racism, extols the evidence of the social mix.

In the parlour, Sculpting Brushes: luminous prototype no. 1, is the first sculpture in a series entitled Bump Load. ORLAN lends her features to this mutant being, simultaneously futuristic, archaic, ethnic and techno-cyber, whose illuminated parts react to the presence of visitors. The result of considerable research and innovative work, Sculpting Brushes: luminous prototype no. 1 is actually an attempt to re-appropriate the use of technology, too often dehumanising, in favour of an unshackled imagination: that of our global society.

In the Gothic decor of the nuns’ hall, three robes in resin, created by ORLAN, continue the tradition of sculpting folds with their Baroque-style drapes. A remix of historical works, these three sculptures – their difference being the aspect of their surfaces – raise the question of copying and cloning, of the difference and the repetition. Enactments of the hyper-luxurious, they link epochs and the permanence of representations: the absent body is simultaneously the Virgin, the artist, and the model who performs in a fashion show.

At the end of course, in ancient latrines, AAKA, artistic double of ORLAN, denounces through a new installation the the omnipresence of the sport and the religion become intrusive in the media and the everyday life.

ORLAN is an artist who has entered the history of art, and is recognised the world over. She is active in photography, video, sculpture, installations, performance, etc. She questions in her work the contemporary political, religious or social pressures brought to bear on individuals, particularly women.

Opening times: Monday to Friday (except Tuesdays) from 1.00 pm to 6.00 pm / Weekends and public holidays (except 25/12 and 01/01) from 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm

abbaye de Maubuisson
Rue Richard de Tour
95310 Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône
France
Tel: + 33 (0)1 34 64 36 10

How to get there: train from Gare du Nord, Paris or RER line C to Pontoise, alighting at Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône + 10 mins on foot

PRESS OPENING NIGHT
Tuesday 29 September at 11h30 am,
shuttle from Paris by reservation
Contact: isabelle.gabach@valdoise.fr/ T + 33 (0) 1 34 64 36 10