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“Together with the artist Tris Vonna-Michell, curators Bart van der Heide and Caterina Riva developed a setting in which to provide access to the private archive of the late poet Henri Chopin. In the semi-intimacy of a half-closed séparée installed in the gallery, visitors would receive an index from which to select works, whereupon the curator, wearing white gloves, would disappear into the gallery office to return with what was requested: pieces of typewriter or sound poetry, rough in the facticity of composition and surreal in their humour, or issues of the magazines Cinquième Saison and OU which Chopin had published. Some issues came as boxes filled with peculiar objects: toys for mind-games. Going through the material, you faced a monitor with a video showing the curator doing the same thing: turning pages, opening boxes. This doubling of the scene further heightened its theatricality. Like a child, you found yourself playing ‘archive’ (like children playing ‘post office’).
Jan Verwoert, “Life Work,” in Frieze 121, March 2009” Frieze Magazine | Archive | Life Work
Jan Verwoert, “Life Work,” in Frieze 121, March 2009” Frieze Magazine | Archive | Life Work
