Stanley Brouwn (abgesagt / cancelled)

stanley brouwn has been invited by the Institut d'art contemporain for a solo exhibition in which he will fill the entire exhibition space with new works. A historical figure in conceptual art, stanley brouwn is still extremely active today. His approach generates discreetly a way of being in the world—from one's own body to the universe—that is necessary more than ever today.

stanley brouwn's work is hinged on measurement and movement: measuring a pace, a route, a body, relations between persons and between persons and where they are. After arriving in Amsterdam in 1957, he collected sketch maps drawn by passers-by whom he asked for directions, and then stamped each one with 'this way brouwn' (1960). In the early 1970s, stanley brouwn started recording all his travels on foot as accurately as possible, using a system consisting of his own units of measurement related to parts of his body (foot, pace, cubit, etc.). His work thus takes the form of figures and units of measurement drawn both from his own body and from past* or present civilisations. stanley brouwn thus records his travels methodically using a conception of work defined by his relation to the world and to life. He thus wants the perception of his work to be concrete and immediate. With the same idea of the experience through the work, stanley brouwn keeps away from the public scene. He does not attend the openings of his exhibitions and refuses all iconography and the publication of any personal catalogue. This choice is coherent with the nature of his works, which mean no more than what they show—that is to say, the experience of the relation between the body and space and time.

stanley brouwn has created a specific project for his exhibition at the Institut d'art contemporain. It underlines both the coherence of the direction that he has taken for several decades and gives him a new extension. He is designing work by room and divides the exhibition space into 14 areas, with reference to the number 7 that is found in various physical, mathematical, philosophical, and spiritual symbolism. The artist has traced a route that enumerates the various forms that the inscription of measurements can take in his works: an aluminium rule and text on a trestle table, text on a wall, text on wood, adhesive on the floor, wooden structure, drawing on the wall...

stanley brouwn addresses this exhibition using reflection and experiment in the space at the institute and its more overall setting in a local and universal geographic setting. He thus starts with the length of his foot (26 cm) and proposes several possible directions concerning movement, related to the four cardinal points but also to the speed of light and that of sound. The artist is at the same level as the visitor and wishes to examine the link between man and a spatial order, to highlight an experience of reality, an indication of presence in the universe. stanley brouwn's project for the institute is particularly meaningful at a time when nobody really 'knows where to go' and where simple but rigorous tracing of questions of spatial position, route and orientation means performing a radical artistic act. The latter thus seems appropriate for wandering or even becoming lost, a 'measured' manner of (re)discovering the ever-renewed paths of freedom.

* like the invitation card for the exhibition, designed as follows: format of the card 5/12 x 7/24 foot. An old Alexandrian foot = 360 mm

Curated by Nathalie Ergino, Director of the Institut d'art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes, assisted by Anne Stenne.

The Institut d'art contemporain gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Culture and Communication (DRAC Rhône-Alpes), the Rhône-Alpes Regional Council, and the city of Villeurbanne.

(die Austellung wurde abgesagt / exhibition cancelled)

Stanley Brouwn
Kuratoren: Nathalie Ergino