# 110-5624-07MA30  BACK  ARCHIVE

Made In France

National Museum Of Fine Art Riga  •  Latvia [LV]

The Made in France, or Fait in France exhibition shows the richness and diversity of French plastic arts over a period of fifteen years. The aim of the project is not to reflect a particular school or movement but to be a manifesto of openness and creative freedom whose spirit is not subject to any single system of ideas.

In Fernand Braudel’s book L’identité de la France – Espace et Histoire, the title of the first chapter is Let France Become a Synonym for the Word “Diversity”! This exhibition reflects this successful formulation and offers visitors a one-stop opportunity to become familiar with all the styles and tendencies in French contemporary art.

The exhibition features by 30 artists working in France. The 50 artworks on show have been selected from the the collections of eight French Regional Centres of Contemporary Art. The works were selected by the French independent curator and art critic Philippe Piguet together with Bulgarian art historian Boris Danailov, the Director of the National Art Gallery.

A video installation The Hand created by Melik Ohanian in 2002 consists of nine different short films on nine monitors positioned on the ground. The projection is like a sculpture in space, a collection of moving images accompanied by the special sound that comes from two palms hitting each other. The result is shocking, strange, melancholy, and rhythmic like the accompaniment to a dance.

Artist Melik Ohanian was born in 1969 in France to a family of Armenian immigrants and has remained faithful to his roots in own art. Ohanian’s first creative works were on the subject of time, the fragility of mankind and the idea of territory.

Melik often visits the land of his parents where this certain video has also been shooted. Without exaggerated tragedy or regret, artist sees what is happening around him and creates human, political and soulful work: “I look into a world that is suffering, a world that is human”.

Melik Ohanian is one of the most recognised artists of the middle generation. In 2004 he represented France at the XXVI São Paulo Biennale. In recent years he also has been invited to participate in all major biennials of contemporary art including Sydney, Lyon, Berlin, Seville, Moscow, and Korea.

In Riga The Hand exhibition has been made possible with the support of the Île-de-France Regional Museums Acquisitions Fund…

—–

VMM – Valsts Makslas Muzejs
State Museum of Art
Krisjana Valdemara iela 10a
LV-1010 Riga
Lettland
fon 7324461

more infos