Source of inspiration 283: MAS in Antwerp

Source of inspiration 282: Tansu

Source of inspiration 281: Michael Sailstorfer

Source of inspiration 280: Tatsumi Orimoto

A few photos of the Bwhat?! exhibition that took place at 12 rue Arsène Vermenouze in Aurillac in June 2011

"Box music" by Florent Bourgain, one of the works of art that could be heard at the Bwhat?! festival

My Bwhat?! project is a piece of music. I was inspired by Erik Satie, a 19th century French composer, who didn’t take what he did too seriously (as illustrated by his “Musique en forme de poire”). He wrote without regard for the rules and musical forms of his time. His work is impressionistic and repetitive.

My piece is also repetitive, hinting at a “three-dimensional” soundscape. I have pushed my homage to the point of drawing the written score itself as a box…

The happy/sad music accompanies a song called: “I wrote this song for you…” whose self-referential lyrics are about isolation (being stuck in an existential “box”). The words are a vague reference to Carly Simon’s 1972 hit:”You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you…”

"Box triptych" by Laura Caumel, one of the works on show at the Bwhat?! festival

When our teacher announced the theme of this year’s European section arts project, you should have seen the faces we all made! “Boxes” didn’t inspire us at first but when you “brainstorm” the word “box”, you think of several things: skyscrapers, candy, pizza or shoe boxes, even coffins, etc. In our daily lives we are surrounded by things that are box-like.

Whilst searching on the Bwhat?! project blog, we discovered a wealth of ideas. There are many sources of inspiration, each one more weird than the last. This made us use our imagination which, being in high school, we very rarely do… Some of the boxes on the site inspired me more than the rest: the one in the film “Seven”, the Jack-in-the-box, the Christmas gift, the Nothing boxes, and the Finger boxes by the Japanese Fluxus artist Ay-O.

After a bit of thinking I came up with this triptych of hands-on surprise boxes. You're probably wondering what the point of this “work of art” is? Unfortunately I don’t really know myself! I love to laugh, have fun and joke around and that is maybe why I have chosen to create these bizarre boxes. I will not give any more details on the contents (that is the whole point!) and I will let you find out for yourselves the “innards”…

Boxes are generally just banal, boring containers. But, they hide what is inside and so they can create a sense of curiosity, apprehension or even fear... In creating my arty boxes I wanted to provoke these sensations. Will you dare open something with unknown contents? Is what is inside going to be a pleasant surprise? Enjoy!

"Inside our own private goggle box" by Marie Serre and Melissa Ben Allal, one of the works at the Bwhat?! festival

Visitors ogling at M&M's goggle box...

We are two slightly dotty girls who are totally nuts about fashion and addicted to fashion magazines! We also share an interest in film and our dream is to travel the world together.

Three years ago, we went to England. During our trip, we visited a museum in London. We saw a box in which a film was screened. This box inspired us for our Bwhat?! project.

We have made a home movie (more of a slide show in fact) and stuck it in a home-made TV set. This TV “box” symbolizes, in a way, friendship (but not our own!) with its constraints, illusions and delusions. It is a means for you to peek inside our world...

In this film, fashion is the obsession of the two characters (played by ourselves). The soundtrack is pinched from the French film “Tout ce qui brille”. It is about freedom and summarises the girls’ philosophy. They also have a guilty pleasure: overdosing on macaroons. Any similarity with persons living or dead is purely coincidental...

We had a lot of fun making the “movie” and we hope you will enjoy watching it!

"Mailstones" by Anne-Sophie Belbezet, one of the works of art at the Bwhat?! festival

Visitors having a look at Sophie's project...

Have you heard of “La Ronde des Quartiers”? It is the name given to a lovely walk around the city of Aurillac. It is indeed a pleasure to discover the different neighbourhoods along this 22km circuit, even by bike on a wet and cold March day, which is how I first discovered it...

This circuit inspired me for my Bwhat?! arts project; I intend to create “artistic” milestones with enigmatic messages on them so that I can “communicate” with the people walking along the “Ronde des Quartiers”.

Milestones normally indicate the distance to a destination. But as this hike is a circuit, with no particular starting point, milestones would be useless. That is why I have removed their role as distance/destination markers. That way, people can keep rambling (endlessly) in a loop!

I also had the idea of creating mailboxes which would allow the walkers to leave and receive messages. The concept of “mailstones” was launched, i.e. a mix of mailboxes and milestones.

But, what kind of messages will I leave? Well, words that people might find fun or thought-provoking.

Every mailstone is the same shape. What changes is the writing, apart from “←22km→” written on the top, and “The road to happiness” and “Have fun!” written on the sides. Only the message on the front is different every time. “←22km→” is the length of the circuit and is an ironic take on the fact that there is no actual final destination (making the mailstones useless from a practical point of view and just a daft work of art!).“The road to happiness” is there because I think this ramble is really wonderful (though it might also make one think that, as the circuit is potentially never-ending, happiness is always out-of-reach...). “Have fun!” is a “yellow brick road” imperative; to have fun in life is essential. But, on the pilgrimage through life, is finding happiness and having fun the ultimate point of existence? Sometimes, the journey seems endless and tiring...

The messages are:

CHEESE! When someone takes your picture, you have to say “cheese!” Also, the Cantal is a cheese (it is as much part of our identity as the rocky landscape...). If you do not understand what I mean, well, that’s hard cheese!

UP↓ Which way is “up”? (this was inspired by Piero Manzoni’s “Socle du Monde” and the mark on cardboard boxes used for transporting stuff). Finding your way on this walk is easy, but, in life, finding your way is not always that obvious...

A LONE(LY) BENCH I like this idea because if you do the hike alone you can sit on the mailstone and look at the landscape...

FRAGILE This is ironic because a mailstone is not fragile. But, nothing, in the end, is permanent...

ROCK Mailstones are made of rock and they do not “roll”! Plus, I love Rock & Roll!

SING! : Follow this order if you are fed up walking! And, they say, trees whisper, so standing stones probably sing.

DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? There is something silly in an inanimate object asking us this question. Can a stone itself know that it exists? We can also ask ourselves the big existential question...

INSERT A COIN The frustrating thing is that this stone is not a slot machine; at least you will not be disappointed not to win the jackpot!

MAKE A WISH What do you want most out of life?

PLINTH This is a “standing” stone! i.e. you can stand on it and stand still as a statue for a while and be admired for 15 minutes.

PRAY STATION This is a vague pun on the “PLAY STATION” game, so it is a comment I suppose on the futility of existence (video games are good time-wasters). It is also about stopping and meditating (praying if you will) on this 22km pilgrimage to nowhere...

WE WERE HERE! But you “were” not here since, when you look at this mailstone, you ARE here. You will no longer be here only once you leave this spot. “You were here” only if you come back to the same spot (i.e. you are walking around in circles). Perhaps the “we” is another group of people? Who were they? This graffiti is a joke about movement, time and space, about us and the anonymous others. It is also a reference to the “You are here” indication on town maps which I always find amusing because it just confirms that you are indeed lost!

Source of inspiration 279: Donald Judd

Le festival Bwhat?! plutôt une réussite!

Bwhat?! est le nom d'un mini festival qui a eu lieu en juin 2011 à Aurillac. Près de trois cents élèves ont assisté aux spectacles de danse, et quelques cent cinquante adultes et jeunes ont visité l'exposition au 12, rue Arsène Vermenouze.

A l'initiative de la section européenne du Lycée Saint-Eugène (Ensemble Scolaire Gerbert), ce projet artistique et culturel sur le thème de la boîte a été réalisé en partenariat avec la Société des lettres, sciences et arts La Haute-Auvergne, le Lycée de la Communication Saint-Géraud, et le Centre Danse Mouvement Image Vendetta Mathea La Manufacture.

Le but du projet a été de donner libre cours à l'imagination des jeunes, qu'ils puissent s'exprimer (sans jugement esthétique de la part des professeurs) à travers les formes artistiques de leur choix (art plastique, texte écrit, composition musicale, danse, court métrage, photo). Ils ont pu travailler sur la durée (une année scolaire), aussi bien seuls qu'en groupes. Le festival a été l'occasion pour eux de montrer et de communiquer sur leurs créations.

Pourquoi ce thème a priori loufoque? Il fallait un sujet « fourre-tout », laissant libre court à l'imagination de chacun, qui réponde à l'envie d'originalité des élèves, de pouvoir se raconter mais de façon indirecte. En même temps, la boîte est un objet, un symbole, maintes fois utilisé dans la création artistique. Les quelques deux cent cinquante « boîtes » répertoriées sur le blog du festival témoignent du fait que l'humble contenant est une source d'inspiration artistique riche...

Nous avons élaboré une « typologie » de la boîte:

• La boîte comme un contenant de choses connues: la boîte à cigares, à bijoux...
• La boîte comme un contenant de choses inconnues: cadeau, bombe...
• La boîte comme moyen d'enfermement: cellule de prison, tombe...
• La boîte comme refuge: cachette, chambre...
• La boîte comme représentation de limites: peurs, préjugés, conformisme...
• La boîte comme moyen de transformation (quelque chose entre dans la boîte et en ressort transformé): confessionnal, réfrigérateur...
• La boîte qui interagit avec le monde: voiture...

C'est donc ce que peut représenter la boîte qui est intéressant; comme objet ou idée artistique, la banale boîte devient porteuse d'idées, de sens, de souvenirs, d'émotions, de potentialités, de sentiments, de ressentis...

C'est parce que nous avons su travailler en partenariat que nos jeunes ont eu la possibilité de s'exprimer, d'être reconnus. Le festival Bwhat?! a été un véritable coffre aux trésors d'œuvres d'une étonnante qualité, débordantes d'imagination, d'idées, de sensibilité, et de cet humour décalé propre aux adolescents. Rassurons-nous, à en juger par ce projet, les jeunes sont plutôt optimistes!