Ultralab's Deceptive Art Tactics at Jeu de Paume

The French collective Ultralab, founded in 2000, is known for its deceptive art practices that blur the lines between reality and fiction. Their current exhibition, 'L'Île de Paradis (version 1.15)', runs at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris from October 9 to December 30, 2007. The group's origins trace back to 1999 when they sent fake invitations to nonexistent exhibitions, a media tactic that fooled institutions like art press into covering a false show by Vincent Corpet at the same venue. The exhibition includes a film by Jérôme de Missolz titled 'Psychopathologie de la vie quotidienne dans le monde des arts', which reconstructs the reactions to their earlier hoaxes. Ultralab describes themselves as 'deceitful, cheaters, traitors, specious, thugs, Machiavellian, fallacious, sneaky, riggers, insidious, impostors, captious.' Their work spans installations, photographs, texts, videos, and computer programs, often critiquing new technologies. A book about the group by Christophe Le Gac was published by Monografik in 2006. The collective has previously shown at Tate Modern in London (2006) and Galerie Magda Danysz in Paris (2003, 2005).