Four Artists Use Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time' as Raw Material
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Marcel Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time.' Four artists—Véronique Aubouy, Jérémie Bennequin, Sépànd Danesh, and Raphaël Denis—interpret the novel as a form of artistic expression. Raphaël Denis has designed 'Corps 1,' an HTML page featuring the entire text in a nearly unreadable font size 1. Sépànd Danesh, who was born in Tehran in 1984, has spent four years hand-copying excerpts for his project titled 'Shadows of Memory.' For approximately a decade, Jérémie Bennequin has been erasing a page each day in 'Ommage,' resulting in 'Tom(b)es' and artist's books. Meanwhile, Véronique Aubouy has documented people reading the novel for nearly twenty years in 'Proust lu,' showcasing the evolution of technology. Their creations delve into themes of memory, time, and the physicality of text.
Key facts
- Centenary of the first volume of Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time'.
- Raphaël Denis created 'Corps 1', an HTML page with the entire novel in font size 1.
- Denis printed the novel on a single large sheet as an abstract monochrome.
- Sépànd Danesh copies passages from the novel by hand into an old copy for his project 'Shadows of Memory'.
- Danesh is a graduate of the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris (2010).
- Jérémie Bennequin erases one page of the novel daily; his project is 'Ommage'.
- Bennequin's erased books are called 'Tom(b)es'; eraser dust is presented as 'Mo(n)ts'.
- Bennequin's artist's book 'Intégralité de Du côté de chez Swann dans sa version ruinée' was published in 2011 by éditions Christophe Daviet-Thery.
- Véronique Aubouy films individuals reading two pages of the novel for 'Proust lu', ongoing for nearly 20 years.
- Aubouy's performance 'Tentative de résumer la Recherche en une heure' and software 'Baiser de la matrice' are related projects.
Entities
Artists
- Véronique Aubouy
- Jérémie Bennequin
- Sépànd Danesh
- Raphaël Denis
- Marcel Proust
- Jean-Yves Jouannais
- Félicien Marbœuf
- Alexandre Singh
- Camille Henrot
- Pierre Antoine
- Jean-Baptiste Bernadet
- Claude Closky
- Alain Robbe-Grillet
- Georges Perec
- Robert Rauschenberg
- Willem de Kooning
- Roman Opalka
- Pablo Picasso
Institutions
- École des Arts Décoratifs
- École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris
- Gallimard
- éditions Christophe Daviet-Thery
- Grasset
- Collectif Anonyme
- Médiathèque Jean Rousselot
Locations
- Iran
- Tehran
- France
- Paris
- India
- Guyancourt
Sources
- artpress —