44th edition of Les Uns Chez Les Autres festival
Saturday, October 19, 2013, 4:00 pm, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris
Empty since 1942, a pedestal sits high above the park. Melted down to make shells during the Second World War, Louis Auguste Hiolin's bronze statue, Au Loup (1885), depicted a shepherd and his dog pursuing a sheep-killer. From here, the view is not the Paris of the usual clichés, but an unprecedented perspective on the park and the north of the city.
This month, on the initiative of the On The Roof collective (Elise Atangana, Yves Chatap and Caroline Hancock) and with the collaboration of Rosa Bonheur, the Festival offers a reflection on contemporary sculpture, its fullness, its emptiness, its ephemeral nature, its power of dialogue in the public space.
LE SOCLE project is inspired by the highly publicized series of temporary sculptures proposed in the form of a vast public debate on the 4th empty plinth in London's Trafalgar Square. LE SOCLE in Buttes-Chaumont will be temporarily filled by Virginie Yassef's work*.
His proposal was selected by a committee of local players involved in contemporary art (Rosa Bonheur, café au lit, On The Roof, Mairie de Paris and Mairie du 19e).
The idea is to create an announcement effect for a more ambitious project in the years to come: a unifying event that will establish itself as an eagerly-awaited rendezvous in the park, a platform for public debate on artistic commissioning with a participatory form of selection.
This project is a scenario in two parts. It tells a myth inspired by a true Japanese story. It's about a dog who waited for his master at the station. Here, the story is a little different. It's not a true story. A dog hides in a rock. He stares into the distance every night. Should he leave, or will someone come and get him?
Pre-vernissage: Friday, October 18, 2013 5:30pm-6:30pm La Pierre qui parle. Act 1. An unusual encounter around the base.
Vernissage: Saturday, October 19, 2013 4-7pm La Pierre qui parle Act 2
Between dog and wolf, the talking stone appears on the pedestal.
Location: Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, at the start of the path leading down to the Temple de la Sybille. Metro Buttes Chaumont.
For further information: http://ontheroofproject.com/
* Virginie Yassef - La Pierre qui parle, 2013
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris