Global Demix iHome Studio by Matthieu Laurette / Press / 2005 / Flash Art International
Beausse, Pascal. “Matthieu Laurette – Galerie Yvon Lambert.” Flash Art International (Milan), no.242 (May-June, 2005).
Affixed to the gallery wall is a simple sheet of letter-sized paper : a contract form, ready to be filled out. On this form, Matthieu Laurette proposes that the viewer publicize Laurette’s name on a television program, thus becoming one of his collectors. He does not content himself with taking Warhol’s fifteen minutes of fame prophecy literally, but sells that which he does not own. There is no need to have his own television show : Laurette’s strategy is based on feeding off existing media space. He takes his place amongst the crowd in New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza at the opening of NBC’s Today Show and brandishes in view of the camera a pink cardboard sign declaring « Guy Debord is so Cool !» This is the principle behind his Apparitions : to utilize the show-business system to produce and broadcast his work by infiltrating th espaces in which the anonymous spectator is tolerated as a passive onlooker. Laurette practices ironic détournement. He makes the name of the renowned theorist of the society of the spectacle appear in the very location of his worst nightmare turned into reality ; amongst the « Go patriots », « I am Gustav » or « Look here ! We want to be on TV ! » banners.
This sums up the humor of Déjà Vu : in November 2004, on the occasion of the gala celebrating the Dia Foundation’s 30th anniversary, Laurette organizes « Déjà Vu : The 7th Internation Look-alike Convention ». Jennifer Aniston, Sean Connery and Angelina Jolie look-alikes mingled with the crowd of partygoers. The video and souvenir photos of the evnt show Pierre Huygues shaking Robert de Niro’s hand, Lou Reed chatting with Rod Stewart, and Lawrence Weiner casually posing for a group photo with the team of look-alikes. The fame system is contested and becomes blurred as the fake stars steal the spotlight from the real ones. When applied to the art world, the specter of celebrity comes to reveal the intentions of the communication strategies implemented by the cultural industry.
The media sphere has become our natural environment. It is the strenght of today’s most pertinent artists to practice through self-media, by introducing viruses in the auto-referential organism of the mass media. In New Orleans he arranged for a ‘journalist’ to interview passerby about their reactions to the potential re-purchase of Louisiana by a French investor. Whether credulous or incredulous, aggressive or amused, the reactions attest to the mass media’s power of persuasion.
In a society ruled by homogenized messages emanating from the intricate spheres of economy, publicity, politics and entertainment, the role of the artist could very well be one of infiltrating the mass media. This is Matthieu Laurette’s art : not information, not propaganda, nor even infoganda, but ‘info-hoax’.
(translated from French by Marie-Hélène Azar)
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