BROGNON ROLLINL'avant-dernière version de la réalité

L’avant-dernière version de la réalité is the first big museum exhibition in Belgium by the artistic duo comprising David Brognon and Stéphanie Rollin. Bringing together existing work with new creations produced exclusively for the BPS22, the exhibition is a perspective of their work over the past 15 years. It allows us to appreciate the uniqueness and consistency of their approach and their definitive conceptual world.

BROGNON ROLLIN

For almost 15 years, the Brognon Rollin duo have created multifaceted work, with an almost obsessive obstinacy that places humanity at the centre of all their artistic images. Sharp observers of some of society’s actions, the artists create works that fall within the history of minimalist art and express great sensitivity in their design and the context of their creations.

Great sensitivity being a twofold sensitivity. This is the advantage of a well-balanced duo. ‘We have to agree 100% that a piece should be shown publicly. This pact means that our production is rather slow, but it does mean that it’s fair. Because we don’t approach an issue in the same way, when we do agree about the purpose, that means the piece is finished.’ (Stéphanie Rollin); ‘We have two different perceptions on the same situation, but we both want the same thing, we want to process it in the same way. So every piece is an accurate representation of what she feels and what I feel.’ (David Brognon).

L’AVANT-DERNIÈRE VERSION DE LA RÉALITÉ
[The penultimate version of reality]

In a selection of approximately 40 works, with several new productions included in each event, the exhibition traces the main phases of the pair’s artistic journey. Consequently a thread of recurring issues weaves its way between the different works, giving the exhibition its overwhelming consistency. This consistency is strengthened by a muted staging that, reflecting their approach and the works on display, is purged of all inconsequentialities to focus on the essential.

Among the exhibited works, ‘Yamina’, a heart line in 27 metres of neon, just like the one etched into the palm of your hand, was produced especially for the BPS22 great industrial hall. Or ‘24H Silence (157 – 282 min / 1440 min)’, a jukebox holding eighty 33 rpm records, each one of which records a minute’s silence observed somewhere in the world after a tragedy: a terrorist attack, the death of a national treasure, a natural catastrophe, mass shooting, etc.

Works that are, in the image of the exhibition, the perfect illustration of the relevance of a body of work that is conceptual, sensitive, political, and occasionally pop.