Stéphane Thidet is a French artist who lives in Paris and works in Aubervilliers. He is represented by Aline Vidal Gallery in Paris, and Laurence Bernard Gallery in Geneva. His work was shown in different solo shows: La Maison Rouge in Paris, Le Grand Café in Saint-Nazaire, Aline Vidal Gallery in Paris as well as many group shows: Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Me Collectors Room in Berlin, Casino Luxembourg in Luxembourg, Magasin 3 in Stockholm.
Performance:
From Walden to Space – Chapter II / The Hut
Commissioned by Mériam Korichi for A Night of Philosophy in New York. Produced by the CNAP (Centre national des arts plastiques), Paris, France. Built by the Ateliers Jean Barbéris, Brooklyn, NY. Production in partnership with Laurence Bernard Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland; Galerie Aline Vidal, Paris, France; France Culture (Les Ateliers radiophoniques) and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York.
This project stages a collision between the book Walden or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau (1854) and NASA’s Mercury Seven project (launched in 1959) that aimed to send a group of seven American astronauts to space. Stéphane Thidet presents a polymorphic work in several chapters, raising questions of autonomy, isolation, solitude, but also contemplation and enlarged perspectives through music and live performance. This chapter, specially commissioned for A Night of Philosophy in New York, is designed for live sound performance and auto-generated music. It will present a scale replica of the Mercury spacecraft made of wood, referring to Walden’s hut. The artist will perform inside the spacecraft, playing homemade modular synthesizers (Ciat-Lonbarde from Peter Blasser, Grendel Drone Commander from Eric Archer…. Within the sound environment created by the artist and the capsule, excerpts from Walden will be randomly selected and played. The sound landscape will evolve during the night.
Time: 7 pm – 7 am
Location: Ukrainian Institute of America / Board Room
Video:
Ask
2002
Video, color, sound
Duration: 2’
Courtesy of Aline Vidal Gallery, Paris, France and the artist.
A skeleton dances in the light of a streetlamp. In the distance we hear a dog barking, cars passing–making the video camera tremble–, and we hear faraway music. The scene seems to be filmed by an amateur videographer.
Time: 7 pm – 7 am
Location: Ukrainian Institute of America / 2nd Floor, Conservatory Room
Stéphane Thidet, From Walden to Space-Chapter II, 2015, is a public commission by Centre national des arts plastiques, France
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