To mark the reopening of the Frac site in Carquefou after having been closed for over a year for major work on its collections, the Frac des Pays de la Loire French Regional Collection of Contemporary Art is hosting an exhibition project by artist Claude Closky, entitled X.

“When Laurence Gateau invited me to create an exhibition based on the Frac des Pays de la Loire collection, I designed a project revolving around temporal rhythms, using works from the collection, which I supplemented with pieces loaned from other artists, some of whom are already featured in the Frac and others who are not. What all of these works have in common is the fact that they look at the course of everyday life, the effect of time on work, or that they adopt a specific timeline in their modes of display. The viewing systems implemented throughout the exhibition, from November to June, will give visitors the chance to explore two forms of temporal pace in the work: the portrayal of the passage of time and the time required to accomplish the artistic act.

The installation layout of the works will itself be conditioned by the length of the exhibition, thus allowing each work to have its own rhythm. The sequential parts of a series or individual components of a work will always be presented separately: one a day, one a week, one a month, and so on. This method of displaying each element in turn will highlight the actual duration of the time spent working. And in this staggered arrangement, each piece will carry the same value as the ensemble.

This approach seeks to shed light on how the works are streamed over time rather than their spatial occupation, focusing attention on the actual moment of experience as much as on its occurrence. It gives the installation layout a performative dimension.

In addition, the exhibition will present original works, editions and reproductions of works in equal measure. This equilibrium is a way of setting time before space, and also of relegating to the background an object’s materiality and rarity.

The title X (‘choice’ and ‘multiplication’) gives shape to the spatial aspect of the exhibition display.” By Claude Closky.