Matadero Madrid center for contemporary creation
VALÉRIE MRÉJEN
An audiovisual installation by one of Europe's most influential artists in recent years
Institution
SISMO has invited one of France and Europe's most significant and influential audiovisual creators, Valérie Mréjen. A videoartist who enjoys great renown as an artist, photographer and woman of letters, Mréjen also knows how to use a rare combination of ethics and poetry, and understands the merits of irony, fiction and the documentary form. Mréjen presents an audiovisual installation in Nave16 that includes six of her audiovisual pieces never before screened in Madrid.
Valérie Mréjen. Artist, photographer, videoartist and writer, Mréjen multiplies the medium to better explore the possibilities of language, and to make her videos, she seeks inspiration in her memories, in day-to-day occurrences, and cruel and ironic details from her life. She combines different types of stories that she rewrites and reworks to later use them in her work with comedians and people around her. Valérie Mréjen is also the author of the documentary "Pork and milk" that in 2004 found fame. She has authored several tales, including the remarkable "Mi abuelo" and El Agrio, translated to Spanish by the publishing house Periférica. She has exhibited her work at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art in San Francisco, at the Jeu de Paume in Paris (2008) and at the Tate Modern in London (2006).
Works included in the installation:
Chamonix (Chamonix) 2002 13‘ / 35mm / color / sound
Production: Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains.
Featuring: Laura Henno, Dominique Gilliot, Fabienne Gaston-Dreyfus, Bernd Richter, Jocelyne Desverchère, Catherine Vinatier, Manuela Gourary, Quico Herrero, Charles Pennequin.
Before the camera, nine characters each talk about a memory. The language they use is almost descriptive: each story is told in the same tone, some are tragic, others are funny, some insignificant and others are extraordinary.
Dieu (God) 2004 11‘30‘‘ / video color / sound
Featuring: Haïm Beer, Emouna Sebi, Goel Pinto, Hagaï Levi, Shay Labib, Adi Keen, David Volach, Noam Amramy.
Facing the camera and interview-style, eight people born to Jewish Orthodox parents tell us about their leaving the religion: the exact moment when they made the decision, the first time they broke a commandment, broke the rules or acted in a way they had never before allowed themselves to.
Bulles (Bubbles) 2007 5‘42‘‘ / video color / sound
With: Nino Laisné, Dominique Reymond, Maryline Canto, Jocelyne Desverchère, Edith Scob.
In front of the camera, five people are wrapped up in their own thoughts.
Voilà c’est tout (That Is All) 2008 5‘50‘‘ / video color / sound
Students respond to a survey about their lives, their future and their feelings. Filmed at the Guy-de-Maupassant school in Colombes and at the Saint-Sulpice school in Paris.
Ils respirent (They Breathe) 2008 7‘ / video color / sonido
Featuring: Maryline Canto, Jocelyne Desverchère, Michèle Moretti, Serge Ramon, Dominique Reymond, Lucia Sánchez, Bertrand Schefer, Edith Scob
A neighborhood at night. Eight characters follow one another, isolated, foreign to each other. No confrontation takes place. They are almost immobile, as if they were family portraits hanging in a staircase. A voice-over, however, proves that they are alive.
French Courvoisier 2009 14' / video color / sound
Featuring: Maryline Canto, Pascal Cervo, Antoine Chappey, Dinara Droukarova, Jérémie Elkaïm, Joanna Grudzinska, Gaëlle Obiegly, Bertrand Schefer.
A meal is coming to an end. There are eight people gathered around a large table. Together they remember a friend who has passed away. Through the stories each one tells about this absent person, his personality traits, his tics and his expressions slowly paint a portrait of him in the void.
Valérie Mréjen. Artist, photographer, videoartist and writer, Mréjen multiplies the medium to better explore the possibilities of language, and to make her videos, she seeks inspiration in her memories, in day-to-day occurrences, and cruel and ironic details from her life. She combines different types of stories that she rewrites and reworks to later use them in her work with comedians and people around her. Valérie Mréjen is also the author of the documentary "Pork and milk" that in 2004 found fame. She has authored several tales, including the remarkable "Mi abuelo" and El Agrio, translated to Spanish by the publishing house Periférica. She has exhibited her work at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art in San Francisco, at the Jeu de Paume in Paris (2008) and at the Tate Modern in London (2006).
Works included in the installation:
Chamonix (Chamonix) 2002 13‘ / 35mm / color / sound
Production: Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains.
Featuring: Laura Henno, Dominique Gilliot, Fabienne Gaston-Dreyfus, Bernd Richter, Jocelyne Desverchère, Catherine Vinatier, Manuela Gourary, Quico Herrero, Charles Pennequin.
Before the camera, nine characters each talk about a memory. The language they use is almost descriptive: each story is told in the same tone, some are tragic, others are funny, some insignificant and others are extraordinary.
Dieu (God) 2004 11‘30‘‘ / video color / sound
Featuring: Haïm Beer, Emouna Sebi, Goel Pinto, Hagaï Levi, Shay Labib, Adi Keen, David Volach, Noam Amramy.
Facing the camera and interview-style, eight people born to Jewish Orthodox parents tell us about their leaving the religion: the exact moment when they made the decision, the first time they broke a commandment, broke the rules or acted in a way they had never before allowed themselves to.
Bulles (Bubbles) 2007 5‘42‘‘ / video color / sound
With: Nino Laisné, Dominique Reymond, Maryline Canto, Jocelyne Desverchère, Edith Scob.
In front of the camera, five people are wrapped up in their own thoughts.
Voilà c’est tout (That Is All) 2008 5‘50‘‘ / video color / sound
Students respond to a survey about their lives, their future and their feelings. Filmed at the Guy-de-Maupassant school in Colombes and at the Saint-Sulpice school in Paris.
Ils respirent (They Breathe) 2008 7‘ / video color / sonido
Featuring: Maryline Canto, Jocelyne Desverchère, Michèle Moretti, Serge Ramon, Dominique Reymond, Lucia Sánchez, Bertrand Schefer, Edith Scob
A neighborhood at night. Eight characters follow one another, isolated, foreign to each other. No confrontation takes place. They are almost immobile, as if they were family portraits hanging in a staircase. A voice-over, however, proves that they are alive.
French Courvoisier 2009 14' / video color / sound
Featuring: Maryline Canto, Pascal Cervo, Antoine Chappey, Dinara Droukarova, Jérémie Elkaïm, Joanna Grudzinska, Gaëlle Obiegly, Bertrand Schefer.
A meal is coming to an end. There are eight people gathered around a large table. Together they remember a friend who has passed away. Through the stories each one tells about this absent person, his personality traits, his tics and his expressions slowly paint a portrait of him in the void.
