ART-PRESENTATION: Poïpoï, Part I
In 1958, Ben (Benjamin Vautier) created his shop at 32 rue Tondutti de l’Escarène in Nice. Close to the ideas of Marcel Duchamp, Ben starts from the postulate that “Everything is art”. Armed with a dealer’s license, he sells and buys used discs, cameras and other objects. In the mezzanine area, he presents artists such as Robert Filliou and La Monte Young. The store, called “Laboratoire 32″, then the “Galerie Ben doubt of everything”, then becomes the “Center of total art”, a place of publications, meetings and discussions, notably with artists of the school of Nice, which is formed at this time (Part II).
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Nouveau Musée National de Monaco Archive
Τhe exhibition “Poïpoï, Une Collection Privée à Monaco” at the Villa Sauber of The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco is a tribute to the Francisco and Josiane Merino, a couple of Monaco-based collectors and their pioneer spirit of decipherment. The title of the exhibition comes from Poïpoïdrome. In 1963, Robert Filliou and Joachim Pfeufer created the Poïpoïdrome, a functional relation between reflection, action and communication. It was a form of thanks and tribute paid to the Dogon who live in Southeastern Mali. In 1960, Robert Filliou had heard about the Dogon and their famous Poïpoï both through Joachim Pfeufer and through the Dutch architect and ethnologist Herman Haan. Poïpoï is a way of saying yes, a form of acquiescence, conciliation, exchange and peaceful reply. There is also an acoustic and musical dimension, akin to a tempo, which gives rhythm to the interlocutor’s list. The curiosity Francisco and Josiane Merino, andencounters with Nice-based artists during the ‘60s, and their frequent visits to “Laboratoire 32” would encourage them to develop an interest in contemporary art, which would blossom into a passion. In 1967, they also founded “Open”, an underground magazine, in cahoots with Marcel Alocco. In the same period they discovered Fluxus: George Brecht and Robert Filliou who had opened a place called “La Cédille qui sourit” in Villefranche-sur-Mer. Friends of friends came and went, Joe Jones, Dorothy Ianonne, Erik Dietman etc… For a while the couple kept its distance from the art world. A keen cook, Francisco Merino, became food critic for Gault&Millau and the couple was responsible for the Public Relations of the Société des Bains de Mer. At that time they struck up a friendship with Helmut Newton and Alice Springs. In the early 1980s, prompted by the interest of their son Edouard they plunged back into the Contemporary Art world, focusing on the American appropriationist photography of: Richard Prince, Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman. In the ‘90s, they hung out with the group hailing from the Grenoble School of Fine Arts: Dominique Gonzales-Foerster, Philippe Parreno, Pierre Joseph etc. Their apartment in Monaco is a convivial meeting place (walls painted by Stéphane Dafflon, projects by Liam Gillick, Carsten Höller, and Franz West). Their Collection includes artists like: Arman, Fischli & Weiss, Andreas Gursky, Georg Herold, Ann Veronica Janssens, Paul McCarthy, Philippe Parreno, Raymond Pettibon, Jim Shaw, Cindy Sherman and Shimabuku.
Info: Curator: Cristiano Raimondi, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco-Villa Sauber, 17 avenue Princesse Grace, Monaco, Duration: 24/2-30/4/17, Days & Hours: Daily 10:00-18:00, www.nmnm.mc
