Présence Panchounette, "La dégénérescence guette les avant-gardes", 1983, Installation Table à repasser métallique pliante, tissu, sweat-shirt, fer à repasser Calor cloué à la Man Ray de 13 clous de semence de tapissier, 137 x 136 x 40 cm, Collection les Abattoirs, Musée - Frac Occitanie Toulouse © Présence Panchounette ; Crédit photographique : Cédrick Eymenier

Absurdie

With this new exhibition entitled ‘Absurdie’, Les Abattoirs, Musée - Frac Occitanie, Toulouse and Biz'Art'Rit offer a cross-view through a selection of heterogeneous works by artists from the collections: Michel Blazy, John Bock, Mathieu Boisadan, Sophie Calle, Philippe Hortala, Suzanne Huski, Fatima Mazmouz, Joachim Mogarra, Présence Panchounette and Françoise Quardon, plus a number of artists yet to be discovered: Xavier Collet, David Lachavanne, Didier Préaudat and Nadia Sabourin, invited by Biz'ArtRit.

Frédérique Deroqueclaude from Biz'ArtRit explains the selection: ‘Contemporary art questions, upsets and destabilises the established order, and challenges the obvious. It can persist in provoking indignation and even revolt in its viewers. It's a double-edged sword: by trying to get us out of our individual comfort zones, and provoke fertile, shared reflection that is essential to the development of our democracies, it regularly attracts fierce resistance. Let's not be mistaken: Art is not an end, but a means.

When he seized on absurdity, he denounced, in the manner of the existentialists, a human condition devoid of meaning and purpose. In an age that is so serious that it increasingly crystallises into extremes, and where current events depict paroxysms of violence and intolerance, this exhibition offers an ‘escape into Absurdity’. Here, absurdity and humour (but not only) perhaps help to defuse and question some of our certainties (or not).’

According to Socrates, ‘All I know is that I know nothing’.

Welcome to ‘Absurdie’ and enjoy your visit!