BRAHMÂTIC

by Patrick Mimran

curated by Alessandra De Bigontina

2007 September 12 - 30

Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia "Leonardo da Vinci". Milano

The exhibition opens with the showing of four videos, accompanied by the music composed by Mimran. Images that construct and deconstruct will be projected on four enormous screens, marked by a mix techno musical languages and Indian music having a Hindustani basis. The videos last about eight minutes each. The exhibition will continue with a series of sixteen large size photographs that peg and reinterpret the images seen in the videos. The choice of the title and the themes of the exhibition correspond to the artists’ wishes of putting in a syncretic environment, realities that are very different and far removed from each other. The sensations experienced by Mimran during a recent trip to India have touched his sensitivity and his expressive creativity allowing him to conceive this installation. Brahmâtic cites and recalls, in fact, the Hindu principle of explaining the world, the Brahma and, therefore, the Hindu religion of India. Hinduism, as perhaps few other religions, is open to all new experiences in a fusion between philosophical and spiritual experiences and is a religion where divinities and principles having very different characteristics coexist together. It is precisely the aspect of being able to unite differences that the artist wanted to highlight and develop in his work. The exhibition will be completed by the contribution of a series of Billboards that will follow the walls of the Museum’s cloister. Mimran launched his Billboards project in February 2001 in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York, and continued it in 2003 in Venice: in 2003 on the façade of the Ca’Pesaro Museum, in 2004, 2005 and 2006 on the two sides of the Ponte dell’Accademia, in 2006 in Rome, Piazza del Popolo and Bologna. The idea is simple: launch a discussion on art, through lapidary phrases written on enormous panels. The artist’s wish is that anyone who finds herself/himself looking at the billboards, reading them, will be brought to reflect on art. The important thing is not that people agree or not with his phrases; what matters is that they discuss it. “I don’t want to give lessons, but I don’t want either that people visit art galleries taking everything as the gospel. Sometimes they go in as if they were entering a temple. The whole world observes but nobody reacts. This happens especially when they go see “great artists”. People are often afraid of expressing what they really feel. They shouldn’t be afraid of exchanging their point of view. It’s exactly this that gives life to an art work. I received many e-mails and comments regarding my project. Most of the reactions were positive. The ideas for the phrases on the panels would come to me because I would spend a lot of time working and reflecting on art. It’s superfluous to say that I believe in all the ideas expressed on my panels and that the project will continue up until I wake up with ideas in my head.”

Alessandra de Bigontina

PATRICK MIMRAN

Patrick Mimran was born in Paris in 1956. He currently resides in Geneva, dividing his time between Switzerland and the United States. He has had his work presented at the Marlborough Gallery of New York in April 1996, in November 1998 and in 2001. He has worked on a series of multimedia installation projects including music, video and sculpture in different museums and public venues: the Almodin of Valencia, in Spain, the Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice, the Gardens of the Royal Palace in Paris, the Orangerie of Bagatelle, the Lange Voorhoot in the Hague, the gardens of the Montecarlo Casino and others, all the way to the city of Graz in 2003. In 2004, he had an exposition at the Milk Gallery of New York. In 2006, he had his Billboards exposed in the Piazza del Popolo of Rome and on the façade of the GAM in Bologna. In 2007 he presented his paintings in Tokyo, Japan and besides the exhibit at the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia “Leonardo da Vinci”, he will be presenting his works in October at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome.