La vie… à l'épreuve at Institut d'art contemporain, Villeurbanne

The exhibition 'La vie… à l'épreuve' at the Institut d'art contemporain in Villeurbanne, curated by Sandra Cattini, ran from December 18, 2009, to February 14, 2010. Its title, borrowed from a work by Jimmie Durham, features two crossed-out words, signaling a deliberate heterogeneity. The show juxtaposes works from the institute's collection—including pieces by Philippe Decrauzat, Latifa Echakch, and Pierre Malphettes—with contributions from Noëlle Pujol, Jean-Luc Moulène, Raoul Hausmann, Florence Lazar, Jean-Xavier Renaud, Jeremy Deller, Alain della Negra & Kaori Kinoshita, Taroop & Glabel, and Véronique Boudier. Pujol's emotionally charged work opens the dense itinerary, while Moulène and Hausmann's photographic dialogue sits alongside Lazar's video 'Les Gardiens,' which captures two veiled women conversing as construction noise and male voices disrupt the narrative. The exhibition explores the interplay between order and chaos through disparate elements, such as Renaud's cluttered display, Deller's 'Acid Brass' merging Acid House with brass bands, and della Negra & Kinoshita's video triptych 'Life' investigating human-avatar relationships in Second Life. Boudier's 'Nuit d'un jour' closes the show.