video and sound installation, mirrors, offset printing variable dimensions
The installation Tu Sempre is the result of a collaboration between Yann Beauvais and Thomas Köner. The piece is structured around various visual and auditory elements. A montage of texts (testimonials, slogans, scientific or journalistic statements) and close-ups of skin is video-projected onto a rotating structure consisting of a 2×3-meter mirror on one side and a white wall on the other. The text glides across the structure and is reflected off the walls of the art center. On the floor, a map displays statistics on people infected with the AIDS virus worldwide. On the wall runs a photographic frieze: photos taken from family albums, from friends, and of people who may or may not have passed away.
The soundscape, designed by Thomas Köner, features sounds of protests, shouts, car horns, and electronic music broadcast throughout the space. Four interviews with various figures in the fight against AIDS can be listened to on individual CD players.
Tu Sempre is a reflection on the portrayal of AIDS and how that portrayal has evolved. From the 1980s and 1990s-when the virus and its modes of transmission were "discovered," a period marked by strong activism but also by the prejudices, fears, and phobias surrounding an ill-understood disease-to recent years, which have seen public debate subside amid a different economic and social context, Yann Beauvais explores how we can make sense of the AIDS crisis today. His installation straddles the boundaries of artistic discourse, activism, and documentary. By bringing together individual testimonies, theoretical essays, and critical writings, the artist addresses the issue of representation as a crisis of language and speech.
Alexandra Gillet
production : -- La Criée centre d’art contemporain, Rennes -- Crea Université Rennes 2
collection : -- Espace Multimedia Gantner, Bourogne, Conseil Général du Territoire de Belfort
