Lucie Fontaine, Fontaine School Of
“Lucie Fontaine incarnates the following three assumptions: 1) the anti-hierarchical perception of the art field, where artists, curators, gallerists, collectors, editors and critics are all considered “players” in the same game; 2) the theory of expanded practice, in which the artist is not only considered the “creator” of an artwork, but also a cultural operator able to write, manage galleries, curate, collect, etc.; 3) the consideration of the entire discourse around the artwork: conception / creation / production / presentation / distribution / communication / promotion”
From Lucie Fontaine’s Raison d’Etre in her website
The winter seems to be finally arriving to Tel Aviv and just before it really starts, I want to look back at the Summer, during which I participated in the Fontaine, School of at Artport, organized by Lucie Fontaine.
Fontaine, School of, board of directors
It’s hard to define what is Lucie Fontaine but perhaps it breaks the need of defining, of pin pointing one word and one goal to one’s creative activity or to a system. Is Lucie Fontaine an artist? yes; a body organizing exhibitions? yes; an exhibition space? yes, a writer? yes. It’s all of that and much more.
The students of the school, 13 in number, applied to an open call given by the Artport residency to participate in a unique school. Not much information was given but I was curious and decided to apply. I ended up being the only non-artist in the group, but this seemed to go in the spirit of Lucie Fonainte’s vision, of breaking definitions.
During the school different artists, curators and art professionals gave talks about their activities, path and believes. Those faculty members included: Vardit Gross, Dana Yahalomi, Yoram Eshet, Nahum Tevet, Irit Fine Sommer, Shifra Shalit, Joshua Neustein, Dor Guez, Einat Amir, Ory Dessau, Rafram Chaddad, Nicola Trezzi and Joshua Simon.
Visit to Nahum Tevet’s studio
Rafram Chaddad slow food workshop
Ory Dessau and Nicola Trezzi
The school ended with a beautiful syllabus with different meaningful texts the students chose to share with their fellow colleagues.
The last talk culminated with a presentation given by Nicola Trezzi, entitled: “Fictitious Signatures – a Parallel History of Western Authorship”, where the idea behind Lucie Fontaine became much clearer for me, promoting an elliptical way of thinking, an elliptical creativity, unlike a linear or circular one. A realm where there’s no need for definitions, clear roles and Authorship, and where everything seems to be possible. It offers a very contemporary outlook on the world, which can also be applied to other fields apart from the Art world. With no borders or restrictions, strict definitions, you can be anything you want, and many things at a time.
Nicola Trezzi giving his talk at Artport
This optimistic and powerful tool is what I took with me from the school and is what I’m now trying to apply in this blog and my activities.