Medienarchiv

Zürcher Hochschule der Künste

Log in

Pale Fires

 
Picture: Pale Fires

Pale Fires

Matthew Hanson

      Title
      • Pale Fires
      Author
      Date
      • 24.05.2021
      Institutional affiliation
      Description
      • The objective of this project has been to merge an art-related research project with a critical / creative writing practice. The project’s focal point is Feux Pâles, an exhibition produced by the agency ‘readymades belong to everyone®’ — a project of French artist Philippe Thomas (1951, Nice – 1995, Paris) — presented at the Musée d’art contemporain in Bordeaux from 7 December 1990 to 3 March 1991.

        The thesis critically engages with the exhibition through the lens of the novel that inspires its name: Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire. Nabokov’s novel develops through its paratexts (foreword, commentary, index), a structure which this thesis applies to its analysis of the Feux Pâles exhibition catalogue. After a full translation from French to English (unofficial, by the student) of the catalogue's 11 essays and interviews, the paratextual spaces of the document were identified (a director’s foreword, a list of errata) then modified with new texts that apply narratological strategies common to both the artist and novelist (diegetic shifts, unreliable narration) and attempt to re-contextualize and criticize Feux Pâles within the narrative of the show.

        The final product is a 1:1 replica of the catalogue, a formal decision inspired by Thomas’ comments on verisimilitude: to ‘stick as closely as possible to reality’ when adding fiction to it. Even if the final work resembles the exhibition catalogue in appearance, it has, arguably, more in common with the novel: a fiction written in paratexts that grafts itself onto (and potentially disrupts) the text it serves.

      Highlighted items

      1 Items

      AllMedia entriesSets
      Filter werden geladen
      • Page 1 of 1

          • Pale Fires

            Picture: Pale Fires

            Name that can easily go onto 2 lines

            Author that can easily go onto 2 lines as well

            Author
            Date
            • 24.05.2021
            Description
            • The objective of this project has been to merge an art-related research project with a critical / creative writing practice. The project’s focal point is Feux Pâles, an exhibition produced by the agency ‘readymades belong to everyone®’–a project of
              French artist Philippe Thomas (1951, Nice - 1995, Paris)–presented at the Musée d’art contemporain in Bordeaux from December 7th, 1990 to March 3rd, 1991.

              The thesis critically engages with the exhibition through the lens of the novel that inspires its name: Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire. Nabokov’s novel develops through its paratexts (foreword, commentary, index), a structure which this thesis applies to its analysis of the Feux Pâles exhibition catalogue. After a full translation from French to English (unofficial, by the student) of the catalogue's 11 essays and interviews, the paratextual spaces of the document were identified (a director’s foreword, a list of errata) then modified with new texts that apply narratological strategies common to both the artist and novelist (diegetic shifts, unreliable narration) and attempt to re-contextualise and criticise Feux Pâles within the narrative of the show.

              The final product is a 1:1 replica of the catalogue, a formal decision inspired by Thomas’ comments on verisimilitude: to ‘stick as closely as possible to reality’ when adding fiction to it. Even if the final work resembles the exhibition catalogue in appearance, it has, arguably, more in common with the novel: a fiction written in paratexts that grafts itself onto (and potentially disrupts) the text it serves.
            Copyright holder
            • Zürcher Hochschule der Künste
            Institutional affiliation
            type
            Study path
            Imported on
            15.10.2021
            Parent sets
            1
        Previous pageThis pageNext page