For L.F.D.A. 02.

Olivier Bardin’s new work, specially created for La Force de l’Art 02, continues his exploration of the theme of “exhibition” as a way of visualising and presenting not only objects, but also – and above all – human presences in space. Exhibition takes the form of an elliptical architectural element, a wall completely covered with a mosaic of some 600 photographs taken using an everyday, “amateur” camera. The assembled pictures in fact describe silhouettes and anonymous portraits, enlarged to varying degrees by Bardin so that they sometimes become schematised, and grainy.

Distant or extremely close, in both space and time, these figures seem to stand out from their support, thanks to the white space all around them, merging into our world. Their faces are turned explicitly towards the viewer ; they seem to gaze at us in silent contemplation. The confrontation is both witty and, somehow, troubling. Who are these people, and why are they looking at us ? Which is the exhibited object, and which the viewing public ? The shadows transfixed in this contemporary “fresco” function like distorting fairground mirrors, inviting us to reflect on our presence within the exhibition space, and our own status as viewers of the artworks on display.  [V.Th.]

Olivier Bardin

Olivier Bardin is interested in the process by which an individual's social and emotional identity is constructed. In his videos or exhibitions which imply the spectator’s involvement, he creates scenes of formal exchange between people, experimenting with different means and types of language and questioning the power of the media. The artist seeks above all to "show" not a given content, nor a reflection on the precise theme, but the relation of the subject to his own image as well as to the different "givens" of contemporary society. [V. Th.]

Olivier Bardin was born in 1969 in Saint-Etienne.
He lives and works in Paris.

Olivier Bardin,
View from the exhibition 'You belong to me I belong to you',  2008
Centre d'édition contemporaine, Genève