abel nicosdriou project / Projects / BarbaricTaste

Avez-vous le "Goût Barbare"? Do you have "Barbaric Taste"?

A reflection on the judgment of taste when it comes to the acquisition of works of art: between cultural engagement, the evaluation of cultural capital and sentimental value.

Artworks from 5 Belgium collections (Galila, Benedikt Van Der Vorst, Frédéric de Goldschmidt, Cédric et Cookie Liénart, Alain Servais)

Curated by Nicolas de Ribou and Les Commissaires Anonymes

Poppositions 2015, Canal Wharf, Brussels (BE)

Photo by Hugard & Vanoverschelde, photography

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Dear Galila, Benedikt Van Der Vorst, Frédéric de Goldschmidt, Cédric and Cookie Liénart van Lidth de Jeude, family Servais,

What is it that shapes your ‘taste’?

Within the framework of Poppositions, the experimental and alternative art-fair during Art Brussels, we propose to reflect upon collectors and the role they play in defining cultural judgments and artistic hierarchies. Each of your collections is unique to each of your own backgrounds and yet each reflects a social and cultural unity. They beg us to ask: How do you select the works you acquire? By pure speculation? By impulse? Do you consider the works within a larger historical perspective? Is it based on those whom you meet? Is it to be engaged politically? Or is it tied to your social representation? How much of it is based on education, upbringing or social influence? How much of it is based on subjectivity? Do you feel constrained to already prevailing references? These are some of the questions that we would like to make public in order to demystify the person and character of the collector and the act of selecting and purchasing an artwork.

Do you have ‘barbaric taste’?

When it comes to the area of aesthetic judgments, common sense opposes ‘pure taste’, that which is the taste of intellectual reflection, cultivated and strategic in favor of ‘barbaric taste’, that which is considered low, vulgar or uncontrolled. In this open questioning on how one’s taste is formed, and its influence on how culture is produced, we wish to identify amongst your collections what could be considered to be ‘barbaric taste’: a taste that is alive and instinctive, sometimes uneducated and common, almost even animal-like. The exhibition will open up the definition of ‘barbaric taste’ with a selection of quite contrasted works ranging from both known and emerging artists, to mysterious works, common works, or the very intimate, bringing to light a certain dialogue and friction. The exhibition will represent this so called ‘savagery’ and ‘barbarism’ of judgment of taste that becomes visible through the quest to understand the meaning of what is the constitution of a collection. In his text Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu says the following of taste, “Taste classifies and taste classifies the classifier.” As collectors, your tastes and the influence that they have on your acquisitions seem to favor the recognition of certain artists. The barbaric taste is one that undoes instituted hierarchies in order to change the rules. The barbaric taste tells – perhaps you for example – how to play and participate in class struggle.

Les Commissaires Anonymes and Nicolas de Ribou

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Exhibited Artists:

*First room. Alice Janne, Francis Alys, Société Réaliste, Jamie Shovlin, Michael Johansson, Delphine Deguislage, Jeppe Hein, Chaises 1,2,3,4, Mazzacio & Drowilal, David de Tscharner, Aiko Hachisuka, Lode Geens, Camille Henrot, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Evol, Jacob Kassay, Gabriel Hartley, Pierre Ardouvin, Jeremiah Jonhson, Fertil & Teixidor, Asier Mendizabal, Neil Beloufa, Jenny Saville, Michael Johansson, Yarisal & Kublitz, James Capper, Dominique Blais, Wobbe Micha, Jodie Paulsen.

*Second Room. Saâdane Afif, Alex Hubbard, Jurgen Ots, Georges Tony Stoll, Andrea Canepa, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, Vuk Vidor, Julie Verhoeven, Jonathan Monk, Olve Sande, Anna Nordquist Andersson, Michael Dean, Jonathan Monk, Jorge Mendez Blake, Viktoria Binschtok, Romuald Hazoumé, Christian Holdstad, Maanantai collective, Daniel Gordon, Davis Rhodes.

*Third room. Bjarne Melgaard, Sanja Ivekovic, Melissa Streckbauer, Marcos Chaves, Malik Sidibe, Jan De Vliegher, Roger Ballen, Mike Bouchet, Andy Boot, Frédéric Brulé Bouabré, Rainer Ganahl, Sanja Ivekovic, Kris Martin, Kyle Thurman, Padhi Friedberger, Edouard Manet, Philippe Petremant, Daan Van Golden, Jon Rafman, Carmelle Safdie, Ellen Kooi, Barthélémy Toguo, Francis Alys, Pierrot Man, Susan Stockwell, Tom Molloy, Robert Kusmirovski, Rainier Lericolais, Sejla Kameric, Roger Ballen, Nobuyoshi Araki, Henriette Grahnert, Jacob Kassay, Sebastiao Salgado, Youssef Nabil, Ann Hamilton, Henri Chopin, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Ghada Amer, Danh Vo, Kris Martin, Bernd Lohaus, Dewar&Gicquel, Lucas Jardin, Alighiero Boetti, Paulo Nazareth, Marcos Chaves, Jorge Pedro Nunez, Steven Baelen, Barthélémy Toguo, Keith J. Varadi, Baptiste Debombourg , Christopher Coppers, Gustavo Artigas, Jonathan Monk, Rafal Bujnowski, Xavier Pinon, Peter Coffin, Hans Eijkelboom, Guillaume Leblon, Walker Evans, John Baldessari, Cheri Samba, Adam Fuss, Malik Sidibe, Nick Van Woert.

*Video rooms. Bouchra Khalili, Yona Refman, Ivan Argote, Katarina Zdjelar, Daniela Ortiz, Laurel Nakadate, Arturo Hernandez Alcazar, Jennifer West.