Mouvement fondateur pour un art éthique
En fait cette recherche d’éthique est intrinsèquement liée à la pratique de Fred Forest depuis toujours et en quelque sorte on peut dire que c’est sa marque de fabrique. Cette singularité qui lui est sienne à part entière et qu’il met œuvre depuis une cinquantaine d’année met en cause les Institutions de l’art.
English version: click here
2018 Mouvement Fondateur pour plus d’éthique dans l’art
En fait cette recherche d’éthique est intrinsèquement liée à la pratique de Fred Forest depuis toujours et en quelque sorte on peut dire que c’est sa marque de fabrique. Cette singularité qui lui est sienne à part entière et qu’il met en œuvre depuis une cinquantaine d’années met en cause les Institutions de l’art. Il pointe l’entre-soi d’un milieu de l’art asservi essentiellement à son commerce et aux manipulations financières et aux pouvoirs financiers et politiques qui constituent son cadre. Il en est aujourd’hui à son quatrième procès contre le Centre Pompidou pour son manque de transparence au point que nous doutions fortement des valeurs démocratiques qu’il est censé représenter. Faites-en vous-mêmes l’expérience en demandant le prix d’achat d’une œuvre… vous ne le connaîtrez jamais !
Le 10 juin 2020 alors qu’il n’a pas été invité, Fred Forest s’empare du micro et soutenu par le critique d’art Paul Ardenne répond à l’exclusion dont il a fait l’objet, censure de la part des responsables de la Bibliothèque Kandinsky du Centre Pompidou. En effet ces derniers ont réuni les contributeurs à la revue Canadienne Inter à l’occasion de leur n° spécial sur l’anniversaire de Mai 68. Alors que lui-même en a été un contributeur essentiel, il a été exclu du séminaire qui a suivi. Il en profite pour lancer après New York, son mouvement à Paris pour une éthique dans l’art.
Une sorte de consensus et d’acceptation sur ce manque d’éthique concerne, en fait, tous les protagonistes de ce milieu : les responsables d’institutions, les critiques d’art et intellectuels, ses opérateurs commerciaux, voire même les artistes dont certains ont intérêt à voir perdurer un système dont ils tirent des avantages et d' autres, le plus grand nombre, du fait de leur fatalisme.
2018 Founder Movement for more ethics in art (English)
In fact, this search for ethics has always been intrinsically linked to Fred Forest's practice and in a way we can say that it is his trademark. This singularity which is entirely his own and which he has been implementing for fifty years calls into question the institutions of art. It points to the self-segregation of an art milieu essentially enslaved to its trade, to the manipulation of prices and to the financial and political powers that constitute its framework. He is now in his fourth trial against the Center Pompidou for its lack of transparency to the point that we have strong doubts about the democratic values it is supposed to represent. Experience it yourself by asking the purchase price of a work… you will never know it! The center categorically refuses to do so. On June 10, 2020, when he was not invited, Fred Forest took the microphone and supported by art critic Paul Ardenne responded to the exclusion of which he was censored by officials from the Kandinsky Library of the Center Pompidou. Indeed the latter brought together the contributors to the Canadian magazine Inter on the occasion of their special issue on the anniversary of May 68. While he himself was an essential contributor, he found himself excluded from the seminar which was takes place there. He took the opportunity to launch after New York his movement in Paris for ethics in art. A sort of consensus and acceptance of this lack of ethics concerns in fact all the protagonists of this milieu: the heads of institutions, art critics and intellectuals, its commercial operators, even the artists, some of whom have an interest to see the persistence of a system from which they benefit and the others, the greatest number, because of their simple fatalism. Forest for many years has published several texts in which he asks artists to "take power" and to demand that society, instead of relegating them to the status of "decorator" or even worse, to that of "public entertainer », to recognize them a place equal to the politician or to any person whose rewarded merits are rarely based on virtues of a moral order. At the end of his life, he must recognize that the attempts made in this direction have ended in failure. Never mind, he tells us here that he will continue this crusade until the last breath. He believes, like Guillaume d'Orange de Nassau, "that there is no need to hope in order to undertake, nor to succeed in order to persevere.
LONG BIOGRAPHY OF FRED FOREST
Fred Forest has a special place in contemporary art. Both by his personality and by his pioneering practices which mark his work. He is mainly known today for having used one by one most of the communication media that have appeared over the last fifty years. He is co-founder of three artistic movements: those of sociological art, the aesthetics of communication and ethics in art.
He represented France at the 12th São Paulo Biennale (Communication Prize) in 1973, at the 37th Venice Biennale in 1976 and at Documenta 6 in Kassel in 1977.
EXHIBITION AT THE CENTRE POMPIDOU FROM JANUARY 24 TO OCTOBER 14, 2024
means that you will find content in English within the pages, although they are mainly published in French.