Memory exhibition: “The Mamco of memory” probes the public’s memory

It’s time to take stock. We hope, as always in these moments, that they will turn out to be positive. With “The Mamco of memory”, the Geneva museum of modern and contemporary art appealed to the memory of its visitors after thirty years of activity at the BAC. The place, like the neighboring Contemporary Art Center and Photography Center, should begin renovations in 2025. Three years of work. Geneva style no doubt, that is to say five or six while blowing up the budgets. Note that the institution, headed for more than eight years now by Lionel Bovier, will have the chance to be the first to head towards a bright future. Despite all its boasting, the MAH is not about to end up on the airport runway waiting for takeoff.

As the last exhibition before closing for renovations, the Mamco therefore transformed its regulars into curators. Which work from the collections would you like to see again? That was the question. The institution’s website displayed the inventory, now quite complete. You just had to decide among 6000 possibilities. Everyone was of course only entitled to one “item”, in other words to one piece. This appeal to the people has been heard. He had to be interrupted after the three hundredth answer. Otherwise, the usual Mamco commissioners would have taken over. They would have made the choice of the choice, in other words their own. Lionel Bovier is of course delighted that the most immovable works received votes. It was therefore not necessary to immediately empty Gordon Matta Clark’s enormous container. Sylvie Fleury’s vaginal cave was also able to remain in place, even if it is two floors below Fabrice Gygi’s “La grand tent”, the entrance to which always seemed to me to be resolutely anal.

It was necessary to give the chosen works, necessarily heterogeneous, a coherent character. Chance must always be organized. Julien Fronsacq was assigned a sort of general police station. His colleagues received rooms from him to set up according to their tastes and affinities. Of course, some pieces could have been found in several different environments. We had to decide based on volumes, eras, colors and I don’t know what else. We knew in advance that certain works would devour space. The immense skeleton, acquired by the Adel Abdessemed museum which was not yet a media star, was going to take up an entire gallery. The same goes for the metal railway sleepers by Richard Nonas or “The Forest” by Xavier Veilhan, through which the public walks in the dark while trying not to twist their feet too much. A forest that I remember seeing once, a long time ago, standing on the ground floor. But everyone knows from the last act of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” that trees can eventually move.

Going down the floors as if we were at the Guggenheim in New York, the visitor understands that he is in fact traveling through time. Let’s not forget that “The Mamco of memory” is primarily aimed at the old members of the house, who are not necessarily old schnocks. It takes time to accumulate memories. To the thirty-year history of the house, which Christian Bernard wanted to make into a contemporary art museum like no other, we must in fact add a long prehistory. It was in 1974 that the AMAM (or Association for a Museum of Modern Art) was founded, which for a long time had a room at the MAH. A few witnesses remain in the current clash, including an important Frank Stella and a Helen Frankenthaler offered by Kitty Lillaz, whose name frankly means nothing to me anymore. Or, from Rebecca Horn, a mechanical fan now well plucked. What do you want? The decades passed and the deaths piled up, both among artists and patrons. For senior walkers, “The Mamco of Memory” resembles a cemetery. Who’s next year? And who will realize it? I saw that among the visual artists who had recently passed away, in addition to Rebecca Horn and Frank Stella, Piero Giliardi and Aimée Moreau. I hadn’t paid attention to it.

But enough of the gloom. There are also names in the current exhibition that remain linked to the Mamco adventure. They range from the American Marcia Hafif to the Canadians General Idea, and from Philippe Thomas to Claudio Parmigiani. They are the ones who contributed, and still contribute, to the originality of the place. That little something that means we’re not in Basel or Bern. Verena Loewensberg’s more recent transplant also bore fruit. The public posthumously adopted the Zurichoise. There are several paintings of her on the walls. Olivier Mosset and John Armleder are part of the furniture, especially since the second produced “furniture sculptures”. The thing is reflected here in an almost natural way. These people are assimilated to the museum like Robert Filliou’s dice circle, Tatiana Trouvé’s office, Claude Rutault’s colorful paintings on the walls or Sarkis’s luminous sofa (please don’t sit down). I’m not saying that these are Mona Lisas. I would rather talk about old friends. Or on the contrary, enemies who have become very intimate.

What will happen when the exhibition ends just before Christmas? Everything remains in suspense, or rather levitating. The Mamco offices themselves have been insured for a month. They will move to Rue des Granges (but on the wrong side) in the former auxiliary bishop’s house, which the Catholic Church sold for cash to the Coromandel Foundation. A friend from the private museum. The ways of the Lord are therefore not inscrutable. For the rest, there will be roaming to build. Partnerships to find. An interest to maintain. The people at Mamco know that they will have to hold out for a long time. Beware of depression!

As for the public, we can estimate that it has now become younger. The wait will therefore remain bearable. On the side of Friends and donors, however, osteoarthritis threatens. In my opinion, we are in an aging world, and the idea of ​​“Young Friends” has fizzled out. There is a generational transition to be found here, while the children of patrons nowhere take over. Today we are more in the foundation, with what it supposes to be impersonal. Even anonymous. This is another challenge to overcome. Management has one window, in other words five years, to fix it. Meet at rue des Vieux-Grenadiers around 2030. Lionel Bovier will then be 59 or 60 years old. I don’t promise to be there, faithful to the post. Note that if I really sweeten the strawberries, it might at least result in a performance.

Practical

“The Mamco of memory”, Mamco, 10, rue des Vieux-Grenadiers, Geneva, until December 22. Such. 022 320 61 22, website https://mamco.ch Open Tuesday to Friday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m.

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Born in 1948, Etienne Dumont studied in Geneva which were of little use to him. Latin, Greek, law. A failed lawyer, he turned to journalism. Most often in the cultural sections, he worked from March 1974 to May 2013 at the “Tribune de Genève”, starting by talking about cinema. Then came fine arts and books. Other than that, as you can see, nothing to report.More info

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