Simon Fujiwara, New Pompidou, Installation view at Lafayette Anticipations, 2014 © Nicolas Giraud. Courtesy : Simon Fujiwara, Lafayette Anticipations, Paris and Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv
New Pompidou is the fruit of one of Lafayette Anticipation’s first production residencies, for which Simon Fujiwara turned the ground floor of the Fondation’s future building into a research office and plaster workshop.
Over a period of eight weeks, Fujiwara developed and produced a piece to be presented at the Centre Pompidou in the context of the fifth edition of the Nouveau festival (19 Feb – Mar 10, 2014). Part sculpture, part performance and part film, New Pompidou mixes fiction, autobiography, poetry, technology and fundamental knowledge. The film made during the production residency at Lafayette Anticipations retraces the creative and production processes of a plaster sculpture, moulded after a gerberette, a steel piece integrated in the Centre Pompidou’s structure. Simon Fujiwara uses this unusual piece as a sarcophagus for a personal story which combines the history of the Marais, an architecture student’s frustrated aspirations and a rose stolen from the Georges, a restaurant on the museum’s rooftop. A project by Simon Fujiwara produced by Lafayette Anticipations as part of the 5th edition of the Centre Pompidou’s Nouveau festival. February 14, 2014 Performance, procession, presentation of the sculpture Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d'entreprise Galeries Lafayette and Centre Pompidou, Paris March 10, 2014 Screening of New Pompidou film (18 minutes) at Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d'entreprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris Simon Fujiwara assisted by Maria Bartau (Simon Fujiwara Studio) and Yan Tomaszewski (assistant project manager) Production of the sculpture: Dirk Meylaerts (production director, Lafayette Anticipations), Pierre Imberteche (master craftsman responsible for producing plaster moulds), Moritz Fehr (mould production technician), Yvan Hart (mould production technician) February 14 procession: Trumpet players: Nicolas Bezins, Nelson Da Silva Carriers: Xavier Antin, Dominique Blais, Maxime Bichon, David Chastel, Arnaud Dezoteux, Iannis Japiot, Carlos Goncalves, Vincent Gasparina, Romain Guillet, Tarik Kiswanson, François Lancien-Guilberteau, Valentin Lewandowski, Dirk Meylaerts, Elias Redstone, Callum Rees, Kerwin Rolland, Alain Seban; Olof Söderlind, Yann Sta , Dexi Tian, Eric Van de Walle, Thomas Vuong, Philip Warkander Film: Simon Fujiwara (artist, writer, director) Xiaoxing Cheng (filmmaker) Alexandre Sénéquier (assistant filmmaker) Gerber (rabbit from Bourgogne) Patrick Paulmier (butcher) Acknowledgments: Bernard Blistène, Florencia Chernajovsky, Rafaël Grynberg and Linus Gratte, City of Paris municipal police
Simon Fujiwara,
Simon Fujiwara, New Pompidou, View of the work in production at Lafayette Anticipations, 2014 © Nicolas Giraud. Courtesy : Simon Fujiwara, Lafayette Anticipations, Paris and Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv
Simon Fujiwara,
Simon Fujiwara, New Pompidou, Performance, February 14, 2014 © Nicolas Giraud. Courtesy : Simon Fujiwara, Lafayette Anticipations, Paris and Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv
Simon Fujiwara,
Simon Fujiwara, New Pompidou, Installation view at the Centre Pompidou for the fifth edition of the 'Nouveau festival', February 19 - March 10, 2014 © Hervé Véronèse. Courtesy : Simon Fujiwara, Lafayette Anticipations, Paris ; Centre Pompidou, Paris and Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv
View of the exhibition Joining Forces with the Unknown, Simon Fujiwara, 2016 © Isabelle Giovacchini