Sets de table - Natures mortes

For La Criée centre d'art contemporain, Sébastien Reuzé edited two sets of tablecloths, printed in 10,000 copies and distributed in five cafés-restaurants in Rennes. The first image evokes the remains of a breakfast (dishes, cutlery, coffee grounds...) placed on the photograph of a young boy. The second results from a photographic accident: a double exposure of two images (a bird's-eye view of a café table with a newspaper and a glass on it, and a house).

"This is about expanding the uses of photography. The narrative, bird's-eye view of a café table, on which cups are placed, is printed on sets of tablecloths. Through this mise en abyme, the image serves as a trompe-l'œil. It is also useful, can be handled without special care, is free, consumable, and disposable, as it is reproduced in very large numbers. The great care usually given to photographs is due to the fragility and vulnerability of the mediums. Markets accustom us to a limited number of copies. Here, the tablecloth sets break with these traditions and democratize the status of the photographic image by fully exploiting its reproducibility. In this case, it is the consumer who will decide the fate of the image. The potential gratuity of the work, the way it can logically be materialized or even delocalized from traditional exhibition contexts, contributes to the choice of the final form the photograph will take."

Sébastien Reuzé, interview with Aurélie Bruhl, Sébastien Reuzé, exhibition booklet, La Criée, center for contemporary art, Rennes, 2003

La Criée centre d’art contemporain, Rennes

offset prints, satin paper 80 g
30 x 45 cm
5000 copies of each distributed to cafés-restaurants in Rennes