ART-REVIEW:Agnès Varda-Une Cabane De Cinema

Although the truth is that I expected to see more good exhibitions at the 6th Gallery Weekend in Paris. The exhibition “UNE CABANE DE CINEMA : La serre du Bonheur” by Agnès Varda, at  Nathalie Obadia Galerie is one of the few exhibitions that really stood up. Reviews of other exhibitions will to follow in the next days. It is not only a very well curated exhibition with very good works, but also conveys the social message of recycling not only of the objects but also of memories since the artist thinks that nostalgia as a feeling is recycling. The award-winning film director -Agnès Varda, (born in 30/5/1928 in Brussels, is of mixed Greek and French descent, her mother was from Sète, France and her father came from a family of Greek refugees from Asia Minor),creates a visual environment where the viewer perceives it as another “Alice in Wonderland”. The royal arch that welcomes the visitors is created from film-reel metal boxes. Inside the gallery the artist has built a greenhouse with partitions and glass walls made of the real 35mm film reels from a print of her film “LE BONHEUR” (Happiness) (1964), inside, are cultivated fake sunflowers. This is her most recent shack after the one showcased at the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain (Paris, 2006), the Lyon Biennale (2009) and the LACMA (Los Angeles, 2013), all made of composite prints of various films. When the viewer focuses on the glass walls, he sees that the greenhouse is made of an entire print of the film, 2200 meters, allowing to cover the walls, doors and the roof, as the artist characteristic says “My nostalgia for 35mm cinema turned into a recycling whim… I build shacks with the waste reels of my movies… Now, movies are carried on digital files, both image and sound, weighing approximately 200gr when non-dematerialized. So loads of coils and film reels were discarded…” Varda’s obsession with the life of things and their recycling, is included also in the film screened at the exhibition space.-Efi Michalarou

Info: Galerie Nathalie Obadia, 18 rue du Bourg-Tibourg, Paris, Duration: 14/4-9/6/18, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00, www.nathalieobadia.com