TRISTES TROPIQUES: ILLUSTRATIONS HORS TEXTE

Ronald van Tienhoven, Laurence Aegerter

08 September 2010 till 19 October 2010

Together with inhabitants of Beetsterzwaag, Laurence Aëgerter and Ronald van Tienhoven work on a reconstruction of a series of photos from the fifties of the French cultural anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss in the next few weeks. The photos appeared as a supplement of the book Tristes Tropiques (1955), by Susan Sontag considered as one of the most important books of the last century. Tristes Tropiques contains the memoires of Lévi-Strauss on his stay at four Indian tribes in Central Brazil.

Aëgerter and Van Tienhoven call the reenactment in Beetsterzwaag a ‘contra exploration’: they will get to know the Frisian town by rules of the game made in advance that do not evolve from the circumstances in situ. Together with the inhabitants they imagine themselves in the ethnographic perspective of more than half a century ago on the other side of the ocean. Composition, posture and facial expression of the persons originally portrayed will be strictly copied. Also the locations in and around Beetsterzwaag will be chosen on the base of their resemblance with the places registered by Lévi-Strauss.

The end result of the project will be a replica of the supplement, de Illustrations hors texte, of Tristes Tropiques. The numbered index with descriptions and the French captions will remain similar to the original, but the 63 black and white photos were made during the reconstruction in Beetsterzwaag.

Tristes Tropiques: Illustrations hors texte is part of the satellite programme with the 17th Photo Manifestation Noorderlicht.

Laurence Aëgerter (Marseille, 1972) makes video, photography, artists’ books, performances and installations. Recently, her work could be seen at Institut Néerlandais in Paris, in the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain in Nice (MAMAC) and in Museum van Loon, Amsterdam. Work of Aëgerter was included in collections of, among others, the Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Caldic Collectie, Rotterdam.
 
Ronald van Tienhoven (Den Haag,1956) works as an artist and designer in diverse media. Since 1990 he has focused on assignments in the public space, and projects in which history and position of the visual culture is central. An example of this is the Euromunt 400 years Netherlands-Manhattan (2009) and the design for a graveyard in the council of Lingewaal. Next to this he presents himself with lectures and articles and as a curator, lecturer and advisor.

 

Work period: 8 September until 19 October

Opening hours: every Saturday and Sunday
from 13.00 to 17.00 and by appointment
 
Presentation: Friday 15 until Sunday 17 October
from 13.00 to 17.00
 
Festive ending: Saturday 16 October at 16.00