At Venice Biennale, 2007Generally, I am not invited to post on the walls. I just do it. Wherever.I did it in France with the project “Portrait of a Generation” when I posted hugephotos of the suburban “freaks” in the bobo (bohemian bourgeois) districts of Paris.I also did it in Germany when I posted the photos of the people in the train all alongthe train line, offering them some kind of mirror. I played that game when I postedphotos of the funerals of the Pope in Rome during the funerals.Yes, I know, it’s illegal. I accept it. That’s fair. I don’t want anyone to start puttingstupid things on the walls. If someone does, he must be ready to pay the price forthat. He must have something to say that’s worth taking the risk.So, I have already been invited to display huge posters of the “Portrait of aGeneration” project in great spots in France : the House of Photography in Paris, theCity Hall in Paris, etc … Always outside, because I want the posters to be exposedto the public reaction. You want to tear them? Write on them? Cover them with yourown stuff? Pee on them? No problem, be my guest…With Face2Face, a photo encounter of Israelis and Palestinians, I have been invitedto do too many legal things. I speak on TVs, I do the evening talk shows on radio, Iam invited to give lectures at the French Embassy or at a “business leaders”conference. My mom is proud of me.So, this year, I have been invited to exhibit at the FOAM in Amsterdam (of course,outside of the FOAM), at the Rencontres Photographiques d’Arles (French, but veryimportant art fair) and at the Venice Biennale.Yes, invited by the Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa to expose my work for anexhibition called WALLS. There, they offered me a wall of 10 meters high and 20meters long.Of course, I wanted to display the holy triptych with Reb Elyiahu, Brother Jack andSheikh Aziz. But, it was not accepted. Normal, there were some problems withcaricatures a few months ago. So, I decided to post huge images of Ayman andRonen, the Palestinian and Israeli actors.Posting is a real physical exercise. You start making the glue by dissolving the whitepowder with water. You add a little of this and a little of that so that the postersshine more and stay rigid. Then you climb the scaffolding and you post the posteron the wall with 90 centimetres strips of 10 meters high. On a length of 20 meters,you need 22 strips.You must do it quickly so that the glue doesn’t dry before you use it. So you takeyour sweater off, then your T-shirt off and you end up covered with sweat and glue.In Venice, I had a public. There was a crowd watching the face appearing strip afterstrip: the hair, then the cheek, then the eye and the lips, the other eye, the othercheek, the hair again. It makes a face. It was a real performance. Some peopleapplauded, some others wanted to start a debate while I was climbing andspreading the glue, some were explaining to others what it was about.
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At Venice Biennale by JR
French street artist, JR describes his experience at Venice Biennale (2007).
JR is best known for creating "Pervasive Art" that spreads uninvited on the buildings of the slums around Paris, on the walls in the Middle-East,… (More)
JR is best known for creating "Pervasive Art" that spreads uninvited on the buildings of the slums around Paris, on the walls in the Middle-East,… (More)
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