Under the curatorship of director Nicolas Surlapierre and Vincent Lavoie, an art historian and professor at the Université du Québec in Montréal, the Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne has undertaken a major investigation into the subject of the fait-divers, resulting, this autumn, in a major exhibition bringing together no fewer than 80 artists from a wide range of backgrounds and formal practices. “Faits divers” has been awarded the “national interest” label, not only for the originality of its content, but also for the museum’s strong commitment to reaching out to all kinds of audiences, from experienced viewers to newcomers. Visitors will be able to decipher the workings of the genre through an innovative scenography that provides interpretative keys to the many artistic proposals that explore the fait-divers. And as is suggested by the exhibition’s subtitle, “A hypothesis in 26 letters, 5 equations and no answers,” here each visitor can give free rein to their imagination and personal judgement.
This group show marks the 20th twentieth anniversary of the founding of MAC VAL, an event that will be celebrated throughout 2025. The inspiration for the theme came from Roland Barthes’ essay “Structure of the Fait-Divers” (1964). Described by the semiologist as the “unorganised discard of news,” the fait-divers helps us to name and identify the aberrant causalities and coincidental relationships that disrupt everyday life. This exhibition offers a broad and comprehensive overview, allowing for comparison, and plays on the principles of enigma and trickery. The fait-divers is the revelation of the unfathomable mystery of banality. It is the grain of sand that causes dull routine to seize up, brutal anomie, the explosion of violence beneath still waters, the cruelty of good honest folk. It is also the revenge of the obscure, of the nobodies.
Text by the curators of the exhibition
Nicolas Surlapierre and Vincent Lavoie
