Non-scene
Above all, Non-scene is the result of a performance. While one performer draws abstract lines in charcoal, another performer sitting on a stage recites song titles one after the other, creating a new text that is sometimes humorous, sometimes poetic. Movement and sound come together. The television set broadcasts the recording of this performance. The stage here is a miniature theatre set that echoes the questions of representation and roles implied by the title of the work. The term non-scene refers to a gay man who chooses to reject the codes of the queer community in order to fit in as closely as possible with heterosexual references. Jimmy Robert asks his audience about playing a role more generally. Is it just a posture? Is it a political act, or is it apolitical? The political dimension of language and its expressions occupies a central place in Jimmy Robert’s work: “Who is speaking? And who speaks for whom? To forget these questions when looking at my work would be to omit a major facet of it.”
Text written by Audrey Pellerin as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.
Exhibitions
MCA - Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago (États-Unis)
from 25 Aug to 25 Nov 2012
La Galerie des Galeries, Paris (France)
from 20 Oct 2009 to 09 Jan 2010
Wiels, Bruxelles (Belgique)
from 29 Nov 2008 to 22 Feb 2009
Jimmy Robert
Born in 1975 in Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe
Vidéaste, auteur, sculpteur et chorégraphe, Jimmy Robert possède de nombreux talents qu’il exerce dans la création d’œuvres souvent conçues comme des ensembles composites (vidéo, sculpture, danse…) où chaque élément fait écho aux autres. Ses sources d’inspiration sont variées, du nouveau roman aux mouvements féministes et queer. Autant de références qu’il convoque pour alimenter ses réflexions sur la communication, l’absence, les frontières ou encore l’aliénation. Porteur de sa propre histoire, le langage n’est ni neutre ni universel. C’est cette spécificité qui intéresse particulièrement l’artiste.
Né en 1975 à Saint-Claude (Guadeloupe), Jimmy Robert a reçu la bourse Andrei & Nicholas Tooth Travelling Scholarship en 1999, la bourse Follow Fluxus – After Fluxus en 2009 et le prix AIMIA/AGO Photography en 2016. Il vit et travaille à Berlin.
