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MIGRATIONS, TRACES 2018 & VIDEOFORMES present:
VIDEOBAR #66: “The Pier”
Video installation & sculpture by Jean-Luc Pradels
Video selection by VIDEOFORMES
Tuesday, November 13, 2018 | 6:30 pm > 8 pm
Chapelle de l’Oratoire
Free access
Sculpture by Jean-Luc Pradels / Video selection by VIDEOFORMES.
“La jetée”
When three years ago the migratory crisis and the movements of populations fleeing their countries of origin made the headlines in all media, the artist Jean-Luc Pradels then began the realization of a wall of heads paying homage to the masters of art history with the unmistakable faces of Munch, Picasso or the first chessboard figurine, dating from the Viking era, found on a beach of the island of Lewis in 1832.
Taking up the openwork style of Irish walls, the artist does not stop at simple historical reappropriation. For the past year and a half, Jean-Luc Pradels has been adding a humanist message to his work in favor of migrants. A tribute to refugees, his wall of faces sculpted on both sides is an allegory of the suffering endured by migrants, a metaphor for the critical situation. Thus, one side of the wall represents the refugees facing a past to which they cannot return, while the other side represents a future that, for the most part, is denied them.
In this No Man’s Land, they become the walls they are confronted with. This sculpture, with a dimension of 3mL x 1,50mH x 0,60ml, is composed of 70 stone-heads on two sides mounted in a wall on a pier. From a technical point of view, the clay fired at over 1,300 degrees is treated with iron oxide and manganese to enhance the dark, charred look. In the center of the Galerie de l’Art du Temps / Chapelle de l’Oratoire, the sculpture is accompanied by a particular mise en scène.
The evocation of the sea by sand and a few broken heads half buried – disparate memory of those who perished during the crossing – combined with a soundtrack, subtle, and an effect of movement by the light, immerses us irreparably in the tragic history of these men.
Jean-Luc Pradels
Trained by the artist Elisabeth Oulles and then a disciple of the Brazilian sculptor and painter Jaïldo Marino, Jean-Luc Pradels has been practicing the art of sculpture for over 24 years. He has notably exhibited at the Schèmes gallery in Lille and in the cloister of the Menat Abbey (63). In 2015, he participated in “Expo Artiste” organized rue du Port in Clermont-Ferrand and exhibited at the gallery Moutt’Art then at Epicentre Factory with “Ici est l’Art”. He participates in 2017 in “Arts en ballade” in Clermont-Ferrand and in OFF in 2018. Since 2016, Jean-Luc Pradels has been working mainly on the realization of his head wall which will be presented, in world premiere, at the Galerie de l’Art du Temps / Chapelle de l’Oratoire during this VIDEOBAR.
VIDEOFORMES proposes a selection of videos on the theme of migrations which will be shown, at the same time
at the same time, and completes the program of this VIDEOBAR:
• Folk Songs / Nino Laisné / France / 12’27 / 2014
This film offers testimonies of illegal immigrants and victims of human trafficking. Stories in which
each one of them reveals himself or herself with restraint, marked by spontaneous songs that are particularly embodied. A singular approach
A singular approach to memory and uprooting.
• Alima, homage to oum kaltoum / Fréderic Pollet / 4’24 / 2002
Frédéric returns to the footsteps of the diva, makes people in the Arab world as well as in Europe express themselves, makes them sing some of her songs.
• Heroic Makers vs Heroic Land / Zimako Mel Jones / Isabelle Arvers / 5’03 / 2016
Interview with Zimako Mel Jones, a Nigerian refugee who financed and built a school in the Calais Jungle.
• Vida Negra / Sylvain de Paiva, Charles Meresse, Elisabeth Sampaio / 3′ / 2012
1960, Manuel and Rosa leave Portugal in search of a better future… in Clermont-Ferrand? At Michelin ?
• They made us happy / Nicolas Barrié / 11’15 /2002
On the occasion of a stay in Egypt in July 2001. On the plane from Paris to Cairo, my neighbor is an African who is being expelled from France. I ask him some questions.
Website of the Biennale TRACES 2018: http://traces-migrations.org/
Website of the city of Clermont-Ferrand: https://clermont-ferrand.fr/agenda/migrations
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/674261272938115/