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milie pitoiset

milie pitoiset

a / a , 2011, 2 screens of 4 sheets, wood painted and rolled, 150 x 40 cm x variable size each, exhibition view la Hantise lucile corty Gallery, Paris

milie pitoiset

Davon loch, 2011, 2 photographies framed, 50 x 50 cm each, installation in wood and steel, 1st edition of the sport of the Queen by Dick Francis signed, table

milie pitoiset

details

Davon loch was the renowned racing horse of Queen mom that became known for a memorable defeat when it stumbled and fell down 45 meters before the finishing line during the Grand national obstacle race in 1956. the reasons for this fall still remain obscure and speculative: one assumes that it was due to a cramp or maybe that the horse shied away from the shadow one of the barriers cast. today, saying to do a Devon loch has become a metaphor in english to signify a sudden and unexpected failure, especially in sports. milie Pitoiset has conceived a reconstructed setting of the fall based on fragmentary elements, hence moving the facts towards a more fictional side. Following her research around the reasons for the rupture and the following narration of the events, she uses this anecdote in the manner of a roman noir presenting the protagonists in form of an authentic object (the book), the event itself as a construction a posteriori (the barrier) and documents of the archive, some of which are retouched (the photographs). obviously the shadow of the barrier could, however, not be reconstructed but rather lingers on the exhibition like a shadow of doubt.

milie pitoiset

misunderstanding (flowers), 2011, flowers, vase, protocole statement by phone

misunderstanding (mythology), 2011, sand rose, print on vintage paper

milie pitoiset

the ambiguity of situations, that are about to get out of control or are on the edge of balance, is a main interest of emilie Pitoisets work. Based on a growing collection of images, film (-snippets) and photographps, the founding layer is the investigation of the structure and decomposition of movement. Her work challenges the viewer and his perceptive faculties by confronting him with the differentiation between reality and illusion, documentary and fiction emerging emotions such as confusion and uncertainty are intended. Pitoiset presents her emotionally charged collages, drawings, videos and sculptures intentionally in reduced, anti-theatrical settings. i am collecting images, photographs and films, documents i find here and there as a result of my researches. sometimes people are suggesting or sending some to me. the composition of images, their architectures determine my choices. my attention is attracted by the strangeness of the balance, which can be sensed through the visual grid of an image. then i classify these elements by dates and places where i am. i organise them, manipulate them and finally print out contact sheets, which i then display. when i am not at home or travelling, i take them with me. in that way i can have access to these documents and built up a relationship through consulting them regularly. (...) the time period between the 1920s till the 1950s- 1960s captivates me enormously. these years have been marked by disruption. From an ideological point of view, this meant to draw a line under ones past. the principle of erasing and deletion is inherent to reconstruction it turns upside down perspectives. i am especially attentive to the composition of images, the visual grid in general and the line in particular. at the beginning of my work, i started to work on the notions of accident, mistake, instable situations, which slowly have led me to introduce movement, direction, imbalance, lines hesitating between the vertical and the horizontal, and finally to consider the fall. i always come back to these notions, which i am perpetually redefining. the sloping line is nonetheless recurrent in my work. it is the one, which hesitates, the one, which threatens, the one, which is nervous. (excerpt from an interview between milie Pitoiset and Francisca Gavin)

milie pitoiset

Handlung, 2011, 6 wooden screens each 250 x 170 cm, pedestal, acrylic glass, print exhibition view: From a to B, from B to P, le confort moderne, Poitiers, 2011

milie pitoiset

milie pitoiset

Views of the installation activation at the opening of the exhibition From a to B, from B to P, confort moderne, Poitiers, 18.04.2011 Performance: anodyne - installation is activated by 3 similar-looking young ballerinas (11 years old, 155 cm each); in collaboration with elie Hay, choreographer and stage director.

milie pitoiset

la perspective corrige, 2011, 2 walls of 12 columns, wood, mixed media, ca. 300 x 180 cm; exhibition view: chambres sourdes, rentilly castle, 2011

milie pitoiset

mimtisme, 2011, b&w-video, dur. 1:27 min., edition 5; exhibition view la Hantise, Galerie lucile corty, Paris, 2011

mimtisme refers to an american tV show from the 1960s that was developed in its original version as studies dealing with social psychology similar to the hidden camera that one becomes aware of when we hear the enforced laughter in the background. the re-edited sequences bring to the foreground the choreography in the protagonists movements. the focus is on a man who hesitates but eventually gives in to the conformity of the group. the repetition of the grouping and the unintended rendering of the mans composure opens up a perspective in the fiction that was originally not apparent in the tV show.

stills

milie pitoiset

Faire retour aux choses mmes, 2010, b&w-video, dur. 2:13 min., edition 5

milie pitoiset

exhibition views: comme on fait disparatre les mirroirs, module Palais de tokyo, 2010.

milie pitoiset

Je ne me souviens plus de lt dernier, 2010, sound work 44, acetate record, edition 5+2 a.p.

the sound installation Je me souviens pas de lt dernier presents the dialogue x and a have in the movie lanne dernire marienbad by alain renais. the two actors seem to have had a love affair in the past year. x tries to revive this memory with a. the vinyl disc itself is impregnated with acid that engraves more and more into the disc when played. Hence, the told memories become less and less audible.

milie pitoiset

la Jalousie, 2010, 9 plywood planks, each 250 x 150 cm; below: exhbition view Glue your eyelids together, klemms Gallery, Berlin, 2011

milie pitoiset

lunique et son double, 2010, glass frame set in brass, 2 found photographs, 26,5 x 21 x 13 cm

milie pitoiset

neue_oder, 2010, print on vintage paper, framed, 29 x 27 cm

milie pitoiset

Point de vue, 2010, barite ultrachrome print, framed, 27,5 x 31 cm

milie pitoiset

untitled, 2009, lambda print, felt, framed, 41,5 x 41,5 cm

milie pitoiset

i have already seen that before, 2009, gelatin silver print, rhodod, framed, 40 x 40 cm

milie pitoiset

marathon#1, 2009, gelatin silver print, felt, framed, 25 x 25 cm

milie pitoiset

marathon#2, 2009, gelatin silver print, felt, framed, 25 x 25 cm

milie pitoiset

liebe ist klter als der tod #1, 2009, gelatin silver print, framed, 41,5 x 41,5 cm

Pitoisets first inspiration for this work comes from an interest on working with the modular grid as developed by the Bauhaus. From there one she came to create a sort of postulate that she applied to found images. the precisely chosen images show bodies in postures of loss of tension or fall. these unanimated figures seem to be or maybe are dead, resting or exhausted. in theses images she traces a line marking the supporting points where the imbalance is located and the other one indicating the direction of the body, which consequently is deviating. in this way she reveals the balance of each of them through uncovering their bearing structures. with this procedure Pitoiset marks the imbalanced balance of each body, through the recurrent subliminal of the sloping line, which can be found in every image. Following the photographic work the video liebe ist klter als der tod refers to an excerpt from the film of same name by r.w. Fassbinder. it shows a man that is set in a seat by another man. the editing of this particular sequence allowed Pitoiset to recreate the story by working on the geometry of the movement, the line it forms, its accentuation, its winding, its accelerations and slowing down. a simple and original action therewith transforms into an act that is fought between two men disclosing the different balancing points due to their body weight and different body stature.

milie pitoiset

liebe ist klter als der tod #2, 2009, gelatin silver print, framed, 41,5 x 41,5 cm

milie pitoiset

liebe ist klter als der tod, 2009, b&w video, dur. 1:11min., edition 5

milie pitoiset

une seule erreur, 2009, collage, erased visit cards from 1900, framed, 33 x 33 cm

milie pitoiset

exhibition view, chambres sourdes, rentilly castle, 2011

at the end of the 19th century portraits taken at a professional photography studio were used as visiting cards. the size of these cards corresponds to todays playing cards. these cards were exchanged also among families and it was therefore not strange to have built a strong tie between 7 families in order to form a game. in une seule erreur Pitoiset has reconstructed a game where she has erased the photographs and reversed 2 cards to their end point. this project served as layout to the cover of a vinyl disc 33t that destroyed itself when listened to. the work takes thus a unique form according to the usage of the user.

milie pitoiset

sur la pointe, en quilibre, 2008, steel-plates, 200 x 100 x 0,5 cm each

milie pitoiset

Possibilit de relations rciproques, 2008, steel-plates, 100 x 100 x 0,5 cm each

Possibilit de relations rciproques consists of three black steel leafs, two of them are marked by an interior incision, one vertical and one horizontal. this work is leaned against a wall in a disassembled way or as one could say in reserve, as one calls an unanimated body on stage. the assembling of the three leafs allowed the work to stay in balance on its edges. the work hold together in their straightness of horizontal and vertical lines in order to get ride of the oblique a balance threatened by the weightlessness and therefore by the collapse.

milie pitoiset

Just Because (selection), 2008-2011, series of 11 collages, gelatin silver print, framed, 30 x 30 cm

in Just because pictures from anonym hobby photographs of the 1950s are composing a series. the tracker, in deep concentration is facing us, the gun is pointed at us, while the crowed around him seems to have fun. concerning the question of reappropriation Pitoiset decided to only keep the photographic principal linked to the funfair. indeed, when the player won, his picture came out of the automatic machine. the idea to immortalise this heroic moment has led to introduce the term shot or tir photographique in French, in order to qualify instant picture taking. the shooters presented here and whose deflection of the balls appear in the cut out of the paper, are incarnating the figures of the potential killer which reminds of the cinematographic icon of the murderer often reduced to the simple action of killing: Just Because. in that case, the identification is direct as the attack is direct, the threat is clearly directed, we are directly aimed at, or else we find in the image incarnated by the shooter the one of mister everybody. (taken from an interview of milie
Pitoiset with Francescy Gavin)

Just because #7, 2009

milie pitoiset

exhibition view animals cant laugh, casino - Forum dart comtemporain, luxembourg, 2008

milie pitoiset

ordinary experience, 2008, stuffed horse, exhibition view: ordinary experience, le confort moderne, Poitiers, 2009

the fictional reality in G. Franjus documentaries formed the basis for ordinary experience; it shows the scene of the horse killing in le sang des Btes. Pitoiset was not only interested to replay it but to transcribe the real. the authenticity could only be contained in the identical death of the horse, which means in its downfall. indeed the animal falls down with all its weight and adopts a folded up posture, which is natural when it is dead, but which it could not adopt while being alive, even if it is trained. it was Pitoisets wish to fix this posture, as if it was a fixed image or more precisely a fixation in time, through the use of the taxidermy.

archival image

milie pitoiset

la Danse de st Guy, 2008, b&w video, dur. 2:44 min., edition 5

milie pitoiset

ecusson de massacre, 2008, fox trap, bagde

milie pitoiset

othello (stills), 2006, video, dur. 1:36 min., edition 5

Firearms as such are objects symbolising a threat, even in there simplest representation. what i am interested in is the tension they are conveying. the video othello i realised in 2006 showed a trained horse and its trainer, which forces it to execute a choreography under the threat of a gun. the cruelty perceived in this one-act play can be realised through the presence of the gun, which however is not a threatening signifier to the horse. on the other hand, however the lady-in-waiting has more impact on the animal, but we do not notice it. in that way i displace the relation between the signified and the signifying of the gun, in order to shift the point of fiction through the simple projection we are making of it.

milie pitoiset

biography 1980 born in noisy le Grand, France 2002-01 master in Fine art option new media, Paris 8 universitt, France iceland academy of arts, reykjavik, iceland 2003 Post-diploma interactive research, ensaD, co le nationale superieure des arts Decoratifs de Paris, France, Ph esthetic & interactive research, Paris 8 universitt, France 2003-05 DnsaP, school of Fine art Paris, France, studio of claude closky & Jean-luc Vilmouth 2004-05 ensBa, school of Fine art Paris, France student of christian Bernard

exhibitions (selection) 2012 milie Pitoiset, klemms, Berlin, Germany (s) / this & there, Fondation ricard, Paris, France / milie Pitoiset, les glises, chelles, France (s) / Fat birds dont fly, netwerk / centrum voor hedendaagse kunst, aalst, Belgium 2011 2001-2011 soudain, dj, ensba, Paris, France / Glue your eyelids together, klemms 7d5e, Berlin, Germany (s) / so schn..., nassauischer kunstverein wiesbaden, wiesbaden, Germany / Davon loch, Zoo Galerie, nantes, France (s) / From B to P, confort moderne, Poitiers, France / la Fabrique du sonore, Domaine Pommery, reims, France / initiation au mystre, soire nomade, Fondation cartier pour lart contemporain, Paris, France / collection 25 ans et 1 printemps, muse Dpartemental dart contemporain de rochechouart, France / la Hantise, Galerie lucile corty, Paris, France (s) / chambres sourdes, chteau de rentilly, Parc de rentilly, France 2010 comme on fait disparatre les miroirs, Palais de tokyo, module, Paris, France (s) / Prospective xxie sicle, le Plateau, Paris, France / shoot ! Fotos schiessen, c/o Berlin, Berlin, Germany; museum fr Photographie, Braunschweig, Germany; les rencontres darles, arles, France / Bild fr Bild, collection of centre Georges Pompidou, museum ostwall Dortmund, Germany / From a to B, kunsteverein, Bielefeld, Germany / la musique du hasard, collection du Frac champagne ardenne et du Fnac, Palais du tau reims, France 2009 lordinaire de la multitude, Galerie lucile corty, Paris, France / Beau window #3, confort moderne, Poitiers, France (s) / silent Post, Pavement Gallery, manchester, Great Britain 2008 animals cant laugh, casino luxembourg, luxemburg (s) / la reprise, galerie lucile corty, Paris, France (s) / un seul cil dans loeil suffit gacher le paysage, sox, Berlin, Germany (s) / ex-Voto : Dans lart contemporain, centre des monuments nationaux / Palais dutau, reims, France 2007 a loral, kadist art Foundation, Paris, France / no more Boring art, Point ephemere, Paris, France 2006 au centre Pompidou, espace 315, centre Pompidou, Beaubourg, Paris, France / attentifs ensemble, attitudes, Geneva, switzerland / radio kills the Video stars, Frac champagne ardennes, reims, France

scholarships and awards 2011-12 residency and project stipend Herms Foundation, Paris, France residency and project stipend Flacc, Genk, Belgium 2010 project stipend audi talents awards, France 2008 residency stipend at la Box, Bourges, France Point phmre, Paris, France 2005-06 residency and project stipend at Pavillon, Palais de tokyo, Paris, France