The Sirens’ Stage
An exhibition by Etienne Chambaud in collaboration with critic Vincent Normand
From 19th March 2010  until 24 April 2010

Opening Time: Wednesday –Saturday, 2 - 7 pm

The Sirens’ Stage is an exhibition by Etienne Chambaud in the framework of Permanent
Exhibition, Temporary Collections, a theoretical project by Vincent Normand.
It is developed by the David Roberts Art Foundation in London, Kadist
Art Foundation in Paris and Nomas Foundation in Rome. The three exhibitions,
interpreted in a different language almost simultaneously at each Foundation (The Sirens' Stage / Le Stade des Sirènes / Lo stato delle sirene), are based on mechanisms of writing and transcription. Translation should be considered both the medium and the shared language of the whole project.

The exhibition takes its title from the mythological sirens’ song which invents itself in the ear of its addressee. Here The Sirens’ Stage is conceived as a group of “written objects”: absent but described, motionless but translated, unique but repeated, mute but transcribed. Excluded from the present time, they only exist in the moment of their transmission into language. Radically detached from the realm of authenticity, each of the three exhibitions attempts to frame a series of exclusions separations and procedures of dispossession. With the promise of producing its own absence as well as the absence of the two other exhibitions' experiences, The Sirens' Stage is a misunderstanding in construction, a negative space failing to be circumscribed.

The Sirens’ Stage is made up of an installation of Figures, a group of named, empty
plinths (The Reef), which acts as a space from which are emitted layers of speech and text. Actors occasionally interact with this space, reading, memorising and rehearsing the fragments of a script. Sometimes The Reef remains silent. A group of framed Instruction Pieces outlines a series of gestures and acts. These instructions change over the course of the exhibition. A writer (The Copyist), present at all times, transcribes the evolution of the exhibition day after day.

About the Artist

Etienne Chambaud (born France, 1980) lives and works in Paris. He is represented by
Labor, Mexico City. Recent solo exhibitions include: The Certificates (with Nina Beier),
CroyNielsen, Berlin (2010); Mais où est donc Ornicar, Espace Blank (curated by Christine Macel), Paris (2009); Color Suite, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2009). Recent group
exhibitions include: The Store, Artissima, Turin (curated by Adam Carr) (2009); Un
Nouveau Festival!, Centre George Pompidou, Paris (curated by Bernard Blistène) (2009).

The Sirens’ Stage is curated by Vincent Honoré, Artistic Director and Gaia Tedone,
Assistant Curator, David Roberts Art Foundation, London.
The exhibition is supported in London by The French Institute, London and CULTURES FRANCE.

Entrance Free

David Roberts Art Foundation Fitzrovia
111 Great Titchfield Street
London W1W 6RY

Tel 020 7637 0868
info@davidrobertsartfoundation.com
www.davidrobertsartfoundation.com