“Variations on” collection
“Variations on” is a bilingual collection of box sets (book and DVD) on singular works and artists in the Cnap collection.
In short: Variations on The First Image
The First Image started out as a commission from Cnap and Grec (Groupe de recherches et d'essais cinématographique) to 10 artists and filmmakers who were invited to travel back to the origins of their work and present what they considered to be the very first image, in no more than 10 minutes.
This box set presents 10 films by Mali Arun, Ismaïl Bahri, Hicham Berrada, Antoine Danis, Maïder Fortuné, Ana Maria Gomes, Daphné Hérétakis, Joachim Olender, Clément Postec and Dania Reymond with essays by Jean Breschand, Alexandre Castant and Agnès de Cayeux.
DVD
Running time: 84 minutes – Original versions subtitled in French/English
© The artists/Cnap
Book
French / English – 19 x 14 cm – 128 pages (b/w)
Texts © 2019 Cnap
Book-DVD box set
© 2019 a.p.r.e.s éditions/Cnap
Price: 20 euros
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Poetry in Action: Variations on Bernard Heidsieck
Cnap holds a significant corpus of visual and sound works by the poet Bernard Heidsieck. This film paints an intimate portrait of Heidsieck, a pioneer from 1955 of sound poetry and the founder, in 1962, of action poetry. It leads us on a journey through his “double life” as a poet and a banker, and also through his work thanks to conversations and original audiovisual documents. They paint a lively picture of sound poetry from its origins to present-day developments.
The accompanying book presents a conversation between Bernard Blistène and Bernard Heidsieck, a previously unpublished text by Heidsieck, poems by Jean-Pierre Bobillot, Anne-James Chaton, John Giorno, Jean-Marie Gleize and Michèle Métail, and contributions by Anne-Laure Chamboisier, Philippe Franck, Arnaud Labelle Rojoux and Richard Martel.
This publication has the support of Galerie Natalie Seroussi (Paris).
DVD: Bernard Heidsieck: Poetry in Action, a film by Anne-Laure Chamboissier and Philippe Franck in collaboration with Gilles Coudert. A joint production by a.p.r.e.s production, CHAM Projects, Solang Production Paris Brussels and Transcultures, in collaboration with Centre national des arts plastiques (Image/Movement) and with the support of Galerie Natalie Seroussi.
Running time: 56 minutes – Original version subtitled in French/English
© 2014 a.p.r.e.s production, CHAM Projects, Solang Production Paris Brussels, Transcultures
Book: French/English – 19 x 14 cm – 124 pages (colour & b/w)
Texts © 2014 Cnap
Book/DVD box set
© 2014 a.p.r.e.s éditions/Cnap
Price: 20 euros
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Blvd Garibaldi: Variations on Yona Friedman
This box set is about the Hungarian-born architect, urban planner and philosopher Yona Friedman. For many, Friedman’s most important work was his apartment on Boulevard Garibaldi in Paris. Its decoration, an organic part of the apartment, was donated to Cnap in 2013 and is now part of the national collection.
Yona Friedman believed that a utopia had to be achievable. In 1958 he founded the Groupe d’étude d’architecture mobile (GEAM) and, in multiple publications, advocated a bold vision of a built environment that gave its inhabitants unprecedented freedom of use.
His apartment on Boulevard Garibaldi in Paris was his home, his studio and an archive where his ideas and imagination took form. An example of a “realised utopia”, it demonstrates the capacity each individual has to create his or her own world.
Animal Normal relates an intimist conversation between Yona Friedman, Caroline Cros and Antoine de Roux, filmed in 2007 in the apartment on Boulevard Garibaldi. In it, Friedman describes a generous belief whereby the individual can play a role in making his or her environment a better place.
Scenes from these conversations are completed by sequences showing Friedman at work, alongside past and more recent examples of his work.
The book comprises original essays by Sylvie Boulanger, Marie-Ange Brayer, Caroline Cros, Wim De Wit and Jean-Philippe Vassal, together with Yves Chenot’s photographs of the apartment.
This publication has the support of École nationale supérieure d'art (ENSA) in Bourges.
DVD: Animal Normal: Conversations with Yona Friedman 2007-2014, a film by Caroline Cros and Antoine de Roux, a joint production by Double Éléphant and a.p.r.e.s production.
Running time: 48 minutes – Original version subtitled in French/English
Film © 2014 Double Éléphant / a.p.r.e.s production
Book: French/English – 19 x 14 cm – 120 pages (colour & b/w)
Texts © 2014 Cnap
Book/DVD box set
© 2014 Cnap / a.p.r.e.s éditions
Price: 20 euros
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Exhibition Prototype: Variations on Theatergarden Bestiarium
Gilles Coudert’s film relates the birth and evolution of “Theatergarden Bestiarium”, an exhibition produced in 1989 by the Institute for Contemporary Art, P.S. 1 Museum in New York and Confort Moderne in Poitiers, acquired by Cnap in 1990.
Narrated by Guy Tortosa, the film reveals how such an extraordinary exhibition came to be, growing out of Rüdiger Schöttle’s original idea and curated by Chris Dercon, both of whom recount their experience of the project. Dan Graham, Alain Séchas and Marin Kasimir give their retrospective analysis. Xavier Veilhan describes the exhibition as a major influence for his generation while Bernard Blistène considers it in a historical context of theatre, gardens and film. Their recollections come together as the film advances to shed light on the multiple implications of this prototype, adapted at each new presentation.
Rüdiger Schöttle’s 1987 film Theatergarden Bestiarium (bonus content) prefigures the exhibition in the form of a sugar model, to a soundtrack by Katharina Fritsch.
The book features essays by Erika Balsom, Chris Dercon, Tristan Garcia, Dan Graham, Vincent Normand, Rüdiger Schöttle and Guy Tortosa.
DVD: Jardin-Théâtre Bestiarium, a film by Gilles Coudert
Running time: 52 minutes – Original version subtitled in French/English
© 2017 a.p.r.e.s production
Bonus: Theatergarden Bestiarium, a film by Rüdiger Schöttle
Running time: 10 minutes – Original version
© 1987 Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle
Book: French/English – 19 x 14 cm – 128 pages (b/w)
Texts © 2018 Cnap & the authors
Book/DVD box set
© 2018 a.p.r.e.s éditions / Centre national des arts plastiques
Price: 20 euros
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Number Three: Variations on Numéro deux by Jean-Luc Godard
Produced for “Número tres, de la casa a la fábrica” at the Virreina Centre de la Imatge in Barcelona in 2012. Using works from the Cnap collection, this exhibition reconsidered the forms, ideas and figures that Jean-Luc Godard imagined for Numéro deux (1975) with, as its starting point, the overlapping of home and factory that underpins the film. Featured artists: Louidgi Beltrame, Philippe Durand, Harun Farocki, Pierre Faure, Dora Garcia, Luigi Ghirri, Liam Gillick, Jean-Luc Godard, Cécile Hartmann, Joreige / Hadjithomas, Valérie Jouve, Florence Lazar, Gianni Motti, François Nouguiès, Julien Prévieux, Marie Reinert, Paola Salerno, Philippe Schwinger / Frédéric Moser, Allan Sekula, Bruno Serralongue, Efrat Shvily, Jean Vigo, Marie Voignier and Bandi Zhao.
The film, History Minus Zero_No Limit, was commissioned by Cnap. In it, Jordi Vidal and Andreïna Mastio overturn the ideas that Godard propounded in 1975, as well as the narrative forms and even the dominant social model through interpretations of the exhibited works.
The book is a compilation of essays, variations in words on Numéro deux, by Pascal Beausse, Nicole Brenez, Antoine Dufeu, Harun Farocki and Kaja Silverman, Eloy Fernández Porta and Carlos Losilla.
DVD: History Minus Zero_No Limit, a film by Jordi Vidal in collaboration with Andreïna Mastio
Running time: 86 minutes – Original version subtitled in French/English
Film: © 2012 Cnap / Jordi Vidal
Book: French/English – 19 x 14 cm – 176 pages (b/w)
Texts © 2012 Cnap / Interview Harun Farocki and Kaja Silverman © 2012 NYUP, New York
Book/DVD box set
© Cnap, a.p.r.e.s éditions
Price: 20 euros