flatmarkus is an art space, currently in Zurich. 

Christophe de Rohan Chabot - ON
February 9 to March 10, 2023, interrupted on March 1
reinstall at the new location, opening on March 30 from 6 to 9 pm on Seestrasse 42, 8802 Kilchberg / Zurich, until May 27

 

Six faces of media figures are presented on the walls. The incomplete beginnings of smiles and glances make them absent figures, an exhilarating emptiness. These low resolution images were first found on the internet, then cropped. Christophe de Rohan Chabot refocuses them around the structure of the eyes, nose and mouth, the information that is sufficient to instantly recognize a face. The square format emphasizes their quality as minimal informational units. These industrial constructions integrate the image into their yellow, red or black and white support. Streamlined into a series of frames, these objects resemble JCDecaux urban billboards or a play on Instagram codes. A sculptural syntax of a pop referential, or a meta-discourse of an art of appropriation. An art that plays with advertising strategies and develops its own transactional language. Compartmentalized, these figure-images dissolve into their own trans- mission structure. They stage a system of signs that become their own substitutes. Thus codified, they become the indispensable icons of the media dynamics that open up applications and lead to content. A marketing pleasure, where what we consume are promises of enjoyment. Emblems that keep us at a distance, organize their own virtual space to host and store a set of potential gestures of participation. A system of the interface, to fix subject and information and capitalize on desires. The screen dissolves into the mirror.

 

Paolo Baggi