It's on the 4th floor of the Pompidou Center thatAntoine d’Agata proceeds to the great unpacking of his life. In this hundred-day artistic residency, entitled Methodthe photographer offers an immersive, intimate… and methodical experience, plunging the visitor into the heart of his creative process.
In the small room 21bis, until December 31, there is a sober installation: walls decorated with linear shelves and a central structure made up of 37 cubes. This is where the photographer carefully deploys his archives… and with his thoughts and obsessions. Dark, intimate, without any opening to the outside, we have the impression of entering a dark room, here more of a laboratory of the mind where the artist gives form and meaning to his work.
The program turns out to be studious, because the objective is ambitious: in 100 days, it will be necessary to fill the entire space, designed to accommodate 256 work notebooks; which is equivalent to producing an average of 2.5 notebooks per day. To do this, d'Agata will therefore open its archives, physical and digital, boxes and hard drives, extracting digital and film photographs but also fetish objects, maps, literature books, etc.
D'Agata, who has long lived itinerantly, exploring the margins and zones of conflict in the world, here makes the unprecedented choice of anchoring herself in a place. He does not seek to present his work in a classical manner, but rather to give tangible form to his thoughts, to structure his ideas, and to attempt to “close a cycle”. This introspective work allows him to look back on his achievements and try to transmit a coherent message, organizing them to prevent them from being dissolved in the twists and turns of interpretation. A quest for structure and formalization now “necessary” for the artist.
The strength and beauty of Method also reside in this intimate research that Agata carries out in the presence of the other. Every Thursday evening, guest authors join him to explore together the fundamental themes that permeate his work: history, cruelty, fragility, lack, and death. These exchanges offer the public a unique opportunity to discover not only the influences that shaped the artist, but also the deep reflections that nourish his work. The continued presence of visitors, free to move around and interact with the artist, gives, according to d'Agata, “something less violent than an opening”, because it is less frontal, less fixed. A feeling all the more significant because depending on the time of your visit, the exhibition is not quite the same and is transformed, offering a unique and evolving vision of the artist's work. Offering the opportunity to come back to it, again. A feeling all the more palpable as the exhibition transforms and is enriched over the days, inviting the curious to return again and again.
Antoine d’Agata : Method
Until January 1, 2025
Pompidou Center
Place Georges-Pompidou
75004 Paris, France
www.centrepompidou.fr
