Fictitious Interactions. Video Art in the Collections

The exhibition “Fictitious Interactions” recalls the specific history of the presence of video art in Lausanne, and more particularly at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, over the course of the last 30 years. It is organised as much around the works that are now part of the museum’s collection as around presentations that have favoured this medium, from “Musée expérimental III: Implosion” (1972) to monographic exhibitions dedicated to Bruce Nauman (1991) and Bill Viola (1993).

The exhibition furthermore presents the various forms of interaction – fictitious or real – that are staged in the works themselves. Whether they involve a mother/daughter relationship – dreamlike and ritualistic in the work of Emmanuelle Antille (As deep as our sleep, as fast as your heart, 2001), violent and repetitive in that of Gillian Wearing (Sacha and Mum, 1996) – or the man/woman Interference as shown in the work of Stephanie Smith and Edward Stuart (1998), all these videos hover on the borders between reality and fiction. They also question the relationship between viewers and the moving image, be it in the frontal setting of the monitor display or in the space of the installation.
In choosing to integrate video works that do not belong to the collection but interact with works that are in it, whether in confronting Breathing In – Breathing Out (1977) by Marina Abramovic & Ulay with Interference (1998) by Smith & Stewart, or the work of Emmanuelle Antille with that of Gillian Wearing (a work that refers back to Bruce Nauman’s installation Violent Incident, exhibited at the museum in 1991), the exhibition intends – following the definition that René Bauermeister gave of video – “to clear the way, break down barriers, ventilate and favour dialogue”.