P1610159 Information Fiction Publicite granda surface -bleue variable dimensions 1987
Information Fiction Publicite granda surface -bleue variable dimensions 1987
P1610157 Information Fiction Publicite access IFP 198X419cm 1988 tarpaulin PVC
Information Fiction Publicite access IFP 198X419cm 1988 tarpaulin PVC
P1610163 Information Fiction Publicite la piot -IFP 25cmdimention 48.5 cm 1985 beton acier moteur electrique
Information Fiction Publicite la piot -IFP 25cmdimention 48.5 cm 1985 beton acier moteur electrique
P1610163-2 Information Fiction Publicite skylightbox 1992 16cm dimen 110cm
Information Fiction Publicite skylightbox 1992 16cm dimen 110cm
P1610161 Information Fiction Publicite la tribune des spectateurs chaque 10X3x37cm 1987-2017
Information Fiction Publicite la tribune des spectateurs chaque 10X3x37cm 1987-2017
P1610160 Information Fiction Publicite la tribune des spectateurs chaque 10X3x37cm 1987-2017
Information Fiction Publicite la tribune des spectateurs chaque 10X3x37cm 1987-2017
P1610167 Information Fiction Publicite skylightbox 1992 16cm dimen 110cm
Information Fiction Publicite skylightbox 1992 16cm dimen 110cm
P1610169 Information Fiction Publicite l ektascope 123x56x55cm 1987 acier emaulle methacrylate neno
Information Fiction Publicite l ektascope 123x56x55cm 1987 acier emaulle methacrylate neno

Text and photos by Chen Chi-Hsiang. Venue: Perrotin Gallery, Paris. Dates: March 16 – May 13. Information Fiction Publicité (IFP), a French contemporary art group active from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, is currently holding a solo exhibition at Paris’s Perrotin Gallery. Despite disbanding in less than ten years, their works from nearly thirty years ago bridge the temporal gap and still appear fresh today. In an era when computers were neither advanced nor widespread, they had already pioneered creative information reconstruction. Indeed, contemporary art explores the unknown, much like scientific exploration.

Here is an old article from the early 1990s, collected in Postmodernism in Europe, shared for your reading.

The group Information Fiction Publicité (IFP) clearly states its intent through its name. In today’s era of rampant mass media, forms such as information, images, and advertisements are overwhelmingly abundant. They employ appropriation, fiction, transfer, editing, combination, and construction, sometimes taking shape through installation. Early on, they used television weather reports as a subject, filming two large clouds and mounting them in advertising slide boxes installed on the gallery ceiling. The poetic blue sky and white clouds, implying clear weather linked to the broadcast imagery, convey a clear narrative meaning.

They further appropriated and transferred large public media posters, especially those ubiquitous in Paris streets or subways, bringing them into galleries and museums. By arranging subway seats in order, they used this "resurrection" technique to restore the popular aesthetics that people usually ignore. One might question whether advertisements under the authority of the art institution are truly artworks. Where is the distinction between advertisement and artwork? What conditions make it art? This raises the issue: isn’t this the artist’s miraculous power? It is not surprising, given how active Duchamp’s descendants are today. Although artists possess magical powers, art itself is mundane. Do not be nervous; there is nothing serious about it. Otherwise, ask Grandpa Duchamp what he was up to. Are contemporary artists all master craftsmen or full of nonsense?