VI° The Human Laboratory
I discovered my passion for curatorial practice through encounters with artists and by exploring alternative cultures at first, and then through the art market, which I later joined via art galleries and international fairs.
As well as being passionate about this intense research work, which led me to develop a project for exhibitions, the fact that I have been constantly able to discover and meet artists around the globe, become initiated in different practices and take part in new initiatives have provided me with the opportunity to find harmonic resonance with my own approach and research in art.
It is no longer about my own work, but my passion and deep love for art and the many themes echoing my research that were reflected in the works of other artists that I showcased in exhibitions which gradually emerged from the white cube of the gallery to include other structures.
The exhibition is an evolving proposal which allows me to establish a space for meetings and discussions with the artists and the public. The curatorial field is also an incredible area to experiment, allowing me to use the world as my own laboratory for studying the Human Being.
Beyond the work and the concepts related to my research, I also specialize on the research of young emerging artists, keeping close watch on new initiatives that spring forth around the world. As such, I work outside the sphere of museums and go directly into the field to meet the many artists who are shaping the world of tomorrow. This is why I am striving, slowly but surely, to establish a vast transnational network, building on art schools and on my work created hand-in-hand with structures such as Academy Now.
As I am concerned with current social and geopolitical issues, I have recently moved away from the limitative space of the art world and have begun expanding my scope of action across the socio-cultural field.
The crises we find ourselves confronted with are leading me to develop many social cohesion initiatives, focusing on a desire to create cross-cultural meeting places, conducive to intergenerational and intercultural dialogues.
If the map of the human being is still one of my main obsessions, I like to place it in the context of territory, of public space and other environments, embracing everything from the local to the global scale.
Art changes the world, or at least, art causes a shift in perception, thoughts and situations that lead to enlivening the potentiality for change in the world.
From its cathartic forms to its therapeutic use, I wonder: deep down, isn’t art really the medium that people use for all kinds of purposes, such as searching for meaning, for openness, for convening a primal memory material deeply carved within our species? An ancient language that figures as the nodal point for communicating across time and space, across cultures, even the most remote, all over the world? I like to think so.
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Title: The Laboratory of Anger Management
Description : A structure dedicated to releasing destructive impulses is set up, offering the onlooker the possibility to destroy various objects, in a furnished and decorated scenescape (the aim is to propose all kind of materials picked up from the streets, where the citizen are throwing away their own belongings).
The whole room is equipped with cameras that record everything that takes place both inside and outside the room.
Before going in the room, the spectator-actor must follow a post-ritual that starts with the signature of a release. Then they are given a protective suit to wear before accessing the room. An aluminium baseball bat is provided.
The last instruction is given : “You have 30 seconds inside the room”.
Media : Participative installation
Location : Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2016) & Donaufestival, Austria (2017)
Year : ongoing since 2016
Credits : Patrick Siboni
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Title: The Army of Trash (from The Trash series)
Description: A series of unauthorized urban installations made with street trash. Each of the installations has the ambition to trigger emotion and initiate a dialogue around the societal challenges that we are facing.
Media: Unauthorized urban installations made with street trash (mixed media)
Dimensions: 6 x 3 x 1.5 m
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Year: 2016/2017
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