Aurélien Froment in Milan

At his first monographic exhibition, the French artist presents two works especially designed for the occasion.

January 20 at the French Cultural Centre in Milan opens the first monographic exhibition of Aurélien Froment "Forme della natura, forme della conoscenza, forme della bellezza" (Shapes of the Nature, shapes of Knowledge, shapes of Beauty), curated by Andrea Viliani, director of the Civic gallery foundation – Research center on contemporary times in Trento. The exhibition (showcasing until March 16, 2011) is the fourth event of the contemporary art project "A certain idea of France", a two-year initiative that has been outlined and promoted by the director of the Centre Olivier Descotes and which involves French artists invited by six Italian curators.

If I Were a Bell by Aurélien Froment is an installation which includes seven small ceramic bells hanging from the ceiling. The bells were made in Arcosanti, the prototype city built in the desert of Arizona by Italian architect Paolo Soleri. Both the city and the bells are based upon the same principles of natural growth, which regard sustainability and education as primary elements. The traditional production technique used for the bells has been taken by Soleri on the much larger scale of architecture and urbanism. Therefore the small bells represent the philosophy and economic sustainability of an idea, by transferring it on a level and a shape that are only apparently different from the original – but they are, in fact, extremely linked to it.
If I Were a Bell by Aurélien Froment is an installation which includes seven small ceramic bells hanging from the ceiling. The bells were made in Arcosanti, the prototype city built in the desert of Arizona by Italian architect Paolo Soleri. Both the city and the bells are based upon the same principles of natural growth, which regard sustainability and education as primary elements. The traditional production technique used for the bells has been taken by Soleri on the much larger scale of architecture and urbanism. Therefore the small bells represent the philosophy and economic sustainability of an idea, by transferring it on a level and a shape that are only apparently different from the original – but they are, in fact, extremely linked to it.

In his artistic work, Aurélien Froment uses various media, from installations to photography, from scultpure to video, in order to take onstage a universe that questions the semantic power of images and the way they originate in time and space. Froment's artworks, inspired by cultural history and collective memory, interact with each other so that the visitor enters an open space-time in which fictional and non-fictional elements mix together.

Aurélien Froment, Pulmo Marina, 2010. HD Cam, 5:10 min. The video installation consists of one sequence shot that follows the movemnts of a jellyfish seen through the glass of a fish tank. The voice of a professional actor gives the public as many pieces of information as possible on what can be seen, regarding chemical, physiological, geographical and even optical-architectural aspects of the jellyfish.

The exhibition includes two recent video installations – Pulmo Marina (2010) and The Fourdrinier Machine Interlude (2010) – and two works especially designed for the occasion, i.e. If I were a Bell & Un paysage de dominos (A landscape of dominos), the latter being the wallpaper that wraps part of the walls between which the exhibition takes place.

Aurélien Froment, The Second Gift, 2010. Video HD, 5:54 min, 6:23 min et 7:55 min. The Second Gift is a video installation that includes three 2010 interviews which the artist realised during a seminar dedicated to the German pedagogue Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel (1782-1852). In the 19th century, Froebel codified twelve gifts, which are objects that, through a child’s active focus, give birth to a progressive process of knowledge of the World via its shapes.

21 January – 16 March 2011
Aurélien Froment. Forme della natura, forme della conoscenza, forme della bellezza
Centre culturel français de Milan, Corso Magenta 63, Milano

Un paysage de dominos (a landscape of dominos) is linked to the recent work of Froment’s The Second Gift (2010). The wallpaper is a decorative transcription of the video installation, and its iconographic narration, with its rythm, synthetises in a sole sequence of pictures the subject of the flm and the evolution of pedagogic objects (the gifts) designed by Froebel.