Director - Editor - Colorist

DoP:       Aymeric François
              Lionel Crocé-Spinelli
Sound:   Sylvain Buffet

FRED FOREST SCHEDULES A NESTED EXHIBITION AT THE CENTRE POMPIDOU

For the participation:
http://participatioforest.com

IN ANTICIPATION OF HIS RETROSPECTIVE PROGRAMMED AT THE CENTRE POMPIDOU, PARIS, IN JUNE 2017, FRED FOREST HAS ANNOUNCED AN INTENTION TO PERSONALLY PRESENT A PRELIMINARY EXHIBITION ON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 1st 2015 AT 4:00 p.m. on the 5th floor But the performance takes place on the 4th floor at the bottom of internal stairs
(Entrance is free)

For the artist the operation is an attempt to provide a perspective on the manner in which exhibitions are likely to run in venues such as these during the latter part of the 3rd millennium. His approach projects artists as free users of museum space to show their work without the involvement of conservation officers, commissioners and state officials.

Fred Forest will introduce a special concept during the commentary: "OSI, L’OEUVRE-SYSTEME INVISIBLE" (literally, the invisible work-system) The unconventional preview will be held in the contemporary galleries on the 5th floor of the museum.

The artist was said to be at loggerheads in 2015 with the President of the Centre Pompidou, Alain Seban. The photo displayed here may come therefore as a surprise, contradicting the claims that were once widely circulated. There has actually been a 360° about-turn in relations a result of the implicit understanding between the two individuals who rely on their intelligence and pragmatic sense. Both personalities rose above the confines of their respective responsibilities and requirements to decide by mutual agreement to sign the Peace of the Braves. With the support of Serge Lasvignes, the new President of the Centre Pompidou and Bernard Blistène, the Director of MNAM, the agreement was sealed by the project to hold an exhibition in June 2017.

Exercising his freedom and legitimate prerogative as an artist, Forest has put forward a plan to do things differently by organizing a 2-stage event. For more than forty years Fred Forest’s stance against the art institution and the market was one of exemplary protest. One may regret his change in attitude, just as one may berate the fact that officials of the institution now accept to support a rebellious artist. In truth, pragmatism has triumphed over dogged rebellion, and, in response to what he perceives as the widespread inertia of the world of art and its compromises, the artist has chosen in total innocence to maintain his distance while reaping benefits for his own image.
The freedom of action characterizing the present announcement supports this posture. The institution and the world at large had almost forgotten the true prodigious profile of this extraordinary pioneer, mostly depicting him as assertive and aggressive. It is not recommended in this environment to say out loud what everyone thinks in private! The opportunity to rectify public opinion and reassert his creative vigour via the invisible work system (OSI for “Oeuvre-Système Invisible”) was too tempting to resist. Today the Centre Pompidou is offering him an exceptional sound box on a plate... thanks to his own initiative. An initiative that the artist intends to fully exercise. The action not only confirms his international stature but also constitutes a fitting finale to a remarkable career progressively recognized in Brazil, Argentina, the USSR, the USA, India, Israel, The Lebanon, Zimbabwe as well as several European countries – to finally now take centre stage in his own land at the Centre Pompidou in June 2017.

The presentation proposed by the artist on the 5th floor of the Museum illustrates an essay he published in L'Harmattan in 2006 under the title "L’oeuvre-système invisible", a historical extension following up on the publications “L’Art sociologique” (Sociological Art, 1974), “l’Esthétique de la communication” (the Aesthetics of Communication, 1983) and “ l’Esthétique relationnelle” (Relational Aesthetics).