METZ.- From Athens to Forbach and Neufchâteau, by way of San Francisco, the works in the 49 Nord 6 Est collection have confronted a wide range of sensibilities over the past thirty years. As a whole, they have shaped an exhibition in which the faraway is right here, without discriminating among places, artworks, or their interpretations.
Constituted initially in order to be showcased throughout Lorraine, the scope of the 49 Nord 6 Est collection has been redefined over time, and new acquisitions have come to reflect specific artistic disciplines. Loans of art to other institutions and the expansion of the project’s boundaries have broadened the geography of the collection. As works of art have circulated both within and beyond the region, this exhibition follows the itineraries of several items from the collection.
Exhibited in libraries, schools, and private residences, as well as art centers, museums, and biennales, these works have each made a unique journey. From the conditions of their production, rooted in a political-historical context, to the venues where they have been presented, these art forms have traveled both through time and cultural interpretation.
Some of the photographs, silkscreens, videos, sculptures, and installations showcased here are emblematic and have been exhibited around the world; others, more discreet, have been displayed less frequently. Certain works bear traces of a journey (Beier & Lund) or trigger an active circulation. Some examine the conditions under which bodies occupy space within the private or public sphere (brouwn; Fraser; Rosenfeld), thus searching zones of freedom in the face of administrative, institutional, or political restrictions. A handful of artists foreground the distance between a work of art and the memory it has left behind (Kolbowski), between the image and its description (Koljonen). Sometimes, as Hito Steyerl notes, describing the portrait of his childhood friend Andrea Wolf, which no longer merely represents a person, but has become an emblem of the Kurdish resistance, the image itself is termed “a traveling image,”.
Lastly, this exhibition reveals the circulation of selected works, retracing their trajectories and foregrounding the plurality of elicited interpretations. Using extracts from press releases and exhibition catalogs, tour guides and museum labels, these multiple approaches, brought together at FRAC, underscore the diversity of perspectives on art and the process of reframing their history prompted by every new presentation.
Indeed, each artwork is an opportunity for the host to take a fresh look at these traveling presences. The resulting readings, accumulated over the years, were written in German, English, Arabic, Greek, French, Japanese, and Romanian. Incomprehensible to some, they conjure up unknown lands, suggesting neglected sensibilities and knowledge informed by experiences other than our own.
