D'UNE MANIÈRE OU D'UNE AUTRE

D’une manière ou d’une autre, an interview with Elisabeth Hautmann, Bettina Hoffmann, Andrea Rostásy and Marcus Weber, four Berlin artists whose work are presented at Galerie B-312 as part of the exhibition Sans souci, an initiative of Bettina Hoffmann. The exhibition raises a number of fascinating questions, which will be discussed in this talk. The debate is likely to be a very interesting, because the situation -four Berlin artists are exhibiting in Montreal, raises the question of the socio-cultural factor: Does art, or more precisely the practice of art, recognizes the boundaries between ages, genders, social backgrounds, languages, cultures, geographic landscapes? In other words, does the geographical, social and cultural space-time in which the artist lives influence his or her practice? Old question, shall we object? Isn't it time to revisit it? Beginning with a question about the title of the exhibition: Why is it called Sans souci, given that not far from Berlin, near Potsdam, there is the famous Sans-Souci Palace, a "rococco imitation of the Palace of Versailles [...] built by Knobellsdorff for Frederick II (1745)" (Petit Robert)? Unless the expression " sans souci" is the exact opposite of "disturbing strangeness," an operative concept that Sigmund Freud developed to qualify a particular literary strategy, and which has since proven itself to describe the Aesthetic Thing with great precision. Unless the expression is the exact opposite of "Uncanny," an operative concept that Sigmund Freud developed to qualify a particular literary strategy, and which has since proven itself to describe the Chose esthétique with great precision.

—Summary of a text by Jean-Émile Verdier