Fabien Lerat – "More Gentle" Solo Exhibition

Text and images by Chen Chi-Hsiang. Venue: Centre d'art contemporain de Metz. Dates: July 6 to October 6. The trip to Metz was thoroughly enjoyable; the hotel where I stayed was located beneath the Ste-Croix hills, next to Paraiges Square. After resting at noon, I strolled around the square and toured the city. Passing by the Centre d'art contemporain de Metz, I encountered a pleasant surprise of the journey. Indeed, unintentional efforts often yield results; one inevitably encounters contemporary art that resonates with one's inner voice. Regardless of the context, perception brings experience, and the present moment is the most authentic. Life is omnipresent, containing everything in silence. Travel is the convergence and realization of body, mind, and spirit. In the scenes of daily life—walking, sitting, lying down—one can only focus on facing and cherishing this very moment.

Contemporary art has become a life context and field. Nothing is closer to life than art, nor is anything more real. Frankfurt scholar Adorno said: "Art is magical, freeing us from the lie of true existence." Under cross-boundary integration, contemporary art has detached from modern and traditional aesthetic experiences. Art close to life seems less magical, so many current exhibitions leave people bewildered. It doesn't matter. Transcendental experiences must be frankly admitted as correct. Entering the site inevitably creates a reflection or correspondence, regardless of understanding; tasting it is enough. There is no need to force other interpretations, nor can theory confront it. Works transcend text; facing the work on-site is all there is. Everything lies in silence. Open your eyes—seeing is sharing, and seeing is a great enjoyment.

It is surprising to see a French artist exhibiting simultaneously in Taipei and Metz: Fabien Lerat (born 1960) – "More Gentle" solo exhibition. The title derives from Laozi's Tao Te Ching: "The gentlest thing in the world can penetrate the hardest." This exhibition offers a perspective within an exhibition. A large series of "More Gentle" (2013) long strip photographs (each 10x150cm) are placed between two wall columns in the space, surrounding the entire wall. The continuous viewing constructs a concept of travel. These ordinary photos of daily life are actually image data for artistic game performances, presenting objects in the exhibition space, such as "A16" (1998), an elastic garment capable of accommodating 2 to 16 people, which can be stretched in all directions, proposing an experience that transforms into collective behavior and attitude in social games.

The eye-catching "Center of Gravity" (2013) is a participatory work, a game on-site. On a 10-meter-long blank sheet of paper on the wall, during the exhibition period, viewers could mark an "X" on the paper at the height of their own navel. One after another, these marks filled the paper, connecting each mark to form unexpected shapes, resembling star charts, constructing collective consciousness from individual centers of gravity. In the center of the exhibition space, the "Mirror Surface" (2013) spatial installation makes architectural structures disappear, reflecting and expanding the space while transforming it. The dramatic "Black Box" (2013) is a tall, enclosed black box (open at the front). Viewers must stand on a small platform to look inside and watch a memory-based aviation landscape video projected within. Through distance and space, imagination and consciousness, perception and behavior, it presents a warm atmosphere.