The Boghossian Foundation presents the exhibition Ekphrasis, curated by Bruno Corà, director of the Burri Foundation in Italy. It brings together pieces from more than forty artists from around the world, whose languages are as varied as the media they use, but in whose works the use of words plays a key role.
Jaume Plensa, Nuage XIV, 2016 © Thibault De Scheppe
The definition of the Greek word ekphrasis is a constructed description of a work of art, real or imaginary, often designed on a model so as to achieve great evocative force. The first famous ekphrasis goes back to Greek Antiquity: this is the description Homer gives of Achilles’ shield in the Iliad. The weapon was forged by Hephaestus so that “everyone should be amazed”.
If the neo-rhetorical exercise of ekphrasis presents itself as an ancient practice, the genre has been used throughout the ages with remarkable continuity, with many famous writers exploring it. Conversely, many artists have also been inspired by reading ekphrasis, like Botticelli, who produced a canvas based on a description from Antiquity.
In fact, there is a great tradition of artists who have concerned themselves with both the visual arts and literature, poetry or politics, and for whom text is a constituent element of their work.
The exhibition explores through the contemporary artists gathered here the issues raised and various preferred modes of the use of writing in visual art.
Lawrence Weiner, Anything added to something, 2009 © Thibault De Schepper Vincenzo Agnetti, Libro quasi dimenticato a memoria, 1970 © Thibault De Schepper
Some of the artists featured in the exhibition use language as “charged” writing, where the meaning lies in the format, like Shirin Neshat, Barbara Kruger or Jenny Holzer. Others, like Art & Language, Tracey Emin or Alighiero Boetti, address personal messages to the viewer. Finally, the question of legible and illegible is evoked in particular in the works of Marcel Broodthaers and Fred Eerdekens, in whose works the use of words also has a decisive place.
Three pieces presented in Ekphrasis have been designed specifically for the exhibition: the sculpture hanging in the Grand Hall by Nasser Al Salem, the work by Lawrence Weiner in the staircase, and the works by Peter Downsbrough in the Salon, on the windows of the facade and in the swimming pool. The many proposals of all the artists illustrate in an exemplary way the concept of the ekphrasis.
Artists
Artists: Vincenzo Agnetti, Nasser Al Salem, Art&Language, Richard Baquié, Robert Barry, Taysir Batniji, Ben, Alighiero Boetti, Jean Boghossian, Marcel Broodthaers, James Lee Byars, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Lieven De Boeck, Thierry De Cordier, Christian Dotremont, Peter Downsbrough, Arpaïs Du Bois, Fred Eerdekens, Tracey Emin, Lalla Essaydi, Mounir Fatmi, Tom Fowler, Mekhitar Garabedian, Jef Geys, Jenny Holzer, Emilio Isgrò, Joseph Kosuth, Jannis Kounellis, Barbara Kruger, Ketty La Rocca, Mario Merz, Annette Messager, Shirin Neshat, Melik Ohanian, Giulio Paolini, Jaume Plensa, Renato Ranaldi, Pedro Reyes, Giovanni Rizzoli, Cy Twombly, Jan Vercruysse, Lawrence Weiner.
