Dear Shaded Viewers,
There has been a rumour that in the 1980s the Centre Pompidou's then director, Pontus Hulten, made plans for an exact replica of the Centre Pompidou to be constructed with the same repeating kit of parts as the original structure. Centre Pompidou never had the success like other museums such as the Louvre or the Guggenheim in franchising to other countries.
For six weeks Simon Fujiwara worked in a studio in the building of the Galeries Lafayette Foundation just meters from the Centre Pompidourealising the New Pompidou, his own vision for a twin museum. The 'Gerberette', a single architectural fragment, a cast replica lifted from the Centre Pompidou's iconic structure tells the story. The original structure was produced in German and driven into Paris and assembled at night, this new production of a large scale architectural fragment in the city centre highlights the dying opportunities in the city for such production.
The materials used to reproduce the Gerberette are part biological and part man-made, and will form a stratified timeline of earth extracted from under the basement of the building (the swamp Marais earth), plants and weeds, shredded images, ink, and a dried rose, a replica of a rose Fujiwara stole from the rooftop cafe on his first visit to the Centre Pompidou 14 years ago when he was an architectual student. Fujiwara has conceived a sculpture which evokes a fantastical vision or a museum, a lost archaeology that speaks of an unknown civilization, but also a portrait of a patron, an artwork that depicts-although imaginatively-its commissioner.
The Foundation will open to the public in the autumn of 2016.
Performance photographs
‘New Pompidou’
Performance of Simon Fujiwara
14 February 2014, Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette
Courtesy of Simon Fujiwara, Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette (Paris), Dvir
Gallery (Tel Aviv)
© Nicolas Giraud
http://?http://www.fondationgalerieslafayette.comhttp://www.fondationgalerieslafayette.com
