Suzanne Lafont's Dual Paris Exhibitions: 'Épisodes' and 'Remue-ménage'

After a long absence since Documenta X in 1997, French artist Suzanne Lafont returned to the Parisian scene with two simultaneous exhibitions: 'Épisodes' at Galerie Anne de Villepoix (10 November – 22 December 2001) and 'Remue-ménage' at La Galerie in Noisy-le-Sec (8 December 2001 – 9 February 2002). The shows are conceived as complementary ghosts of each other. 'Remue-ménage' presents a parade of shadowy figures (Mimogrammes) in a bourgeois house, while 'Épisodes' projects a desperate pantomime onto the external stage. Both revolve around the verb 'manifester' (to manifest) and the word 'placard' (poster/closet). Lafont draws on silent cinema—from the Lumière brothers, Méliès, Lang, Dreyer, Keaton to Welles, Bresson, Tati, and Demy—as well as the works of Atget, Walker Evans, and Walter Benjamin. The series 'Embarras' follows 'Débarras', suggesting that one cannot truly get rid of anything; what is discarded returns as ghosts, slips, or accidents. The exhibition at Galerie Anne de Villepoix opens and closes with an image of a man holding a newspaper like a map or a cover, where the circulation of words and images signifies nothing but an occupation of the page in pure loss and illusion.