THE CABINET OF THE FLUXUS CURATOR

Conceptual photographer Martine Laquiere executes a studio work : controlled representation of the photographed elements, reappropriation and shift in meaning, scale enlargement or reduction. The text and the juxtaposition play an important role in the images that she shapes. She draws her inspiration from the rich array of art history : literature, books and works of artists, architecture, music… For her installation, Martine Laquiere rephotographed the (worn out) sleeve of Lamonte Young’s reference work The well tuned piano. Musician and contemporary composer of Philip Glass, Steve Reich or Terry Riley, Lamonte Young is seen as one of the pioneers of minimal music. In the 1960s, he was very active within Fluxus, an international, artistic, interdisciplinary and deeply experimental movement. In 1963, he also published a pioneering artist book : An anthology of chance operations.

The installation presented at Art au Centre #4 is composed of different elements, just as a « curiosity cabinet » : the emblematic sleeve of album The well tuned piano, reproduced in the artist’s studio, photographed and reprinted at the same dimension than the original, as well as the inside of this sleeve and the plastic case containing the three disks. A trolley is also placed in the window, « as one could find one in a studio », with a reproduction of the cover of Young’s 1963 work An anthology of chance operations. The word « an anthology » is repeated in this installation just as a mantra, subtle reference to minimal music. Two other anthologies are also presented : Douglas Copeland’s The Antimuseum and a CD named An anthology of noise.

We also recognize an enlargement of an invitation of Antwerp legendary art center A 37 90 89, which defined itself as an anti-museum, an anti-gallery. Ultimately, the sound going along with the installation is a reversed and repeated version of Lamonte Young’s music. The Fluxus curator is the artist herself. In a former life, Martine Laquiere was a commercial photographer. She used to utilize marketing seduction strategies to transform a mercantile presentation into an art cabinet.