[spectre] wireless art: Walter Benjamin vs Marcel Duchamp

[franck ancel]

During a trip to Barcelona in 1997, a railway workers' strike blocked off
the French-Spanish border to me. This chance situation enabled me to explore
two border villages at the feet of the Eastern Pyrenees. Two significant
structures caught my attention: the Walter Benjamin memorial in Port Bou on
the Spanish side called Passage by Dani Karavan, and, on the French side,
the Hôtel Belvédère du Rayon Vert built by Léon Baille, the Perpignan
architect.

On one side there is this memorial to Walter Benjamin who committed suicide
on 26 September 1940, and on the other a building in the boat style of the
1930s containing a former cinema and theatre, listed as a 20th-century
heritage building, whose name, for me, is immediately synonymous with Marcel
Duchamp.

I would have to wait until the electronic projection of 23 November 2002 at
the convent of La Tourette (built by Le Corbusier and Xenakis) to be able to
question artistic and aesthetic boundaries in a more direct manner, in order
to find out the necessary information for a search that has enabled me to
talk today about these two locations in Catalogne.

Benjamin's thought and Duchamp's art are scheduled to be brought into play
during the weekend of 27 September 2003 at this Franco-Spanish border
location, and this is seen as an imaginary and symbolic meeting. It is a
result of, and follows, the mark that these two great figures have left
behind them which has totally transformed artistic and aesthetic boundaries
in the 20th century.

This production will cross physical boundaries and will link the two
locations of Port Bou and Cerbère. In other words, the Walter Benjamin
memorial in Spain and the Hôtel du Rayon vert in France. The event will
attempt to mark the boundaries of the art disciplines and will be mainly
held in the Hôtel's theatre auditorium where our audiovisual reception will
be held.

These days, it is almost considered to be an essential requirement that this
comparison will use new technologies. It will therefore be through the use
of wifi wireless network, together with interactive software, that we will
travel beyond the physical boundary.

Our journey through and between these two locations reconnects a whole set
of different information:

-         The fictional novel Traité d'abrégé de littérature portative
(Abridged Treatise on Portable Literature) by Enrique Vila Mata and
published in 1985, and which depicts Duchamp and Benjamin in Port Bou as
part of a secret society linked to the number 27,

-         The Rayon Vert laser created by Dani Karavan for the Electra
exhibition in 1983 which linked the Musée d'Art Moderne (Modern Art Museum)
of Paris, the Eiffel Tower, and the Assur Tower located in the Défense
quarter,

-         The photograph entitled Rayon Vert by Denise Bellon for Duchamp,
which was given to the set designer Frederick Kiesler, for the superstition
room at the surrealist exhibition, held in Paris in 1947, the same year that
Music for Duchamp was composed by John Cage.

Convergence points of the universe that have hitherto been parallel, and
overlooked links, will appear at this event. This fake dimension will,
however, can give another meaning to a trip, appropriate to our world, which
is henceforth informational and chaotic.

This gathering consequently offers you a short-lived journey across a
virtual world of concepts. It will extend the enquiry into the notion of the
decline of the "aura" in the wake of computing technology, and serves as
homage to Walter Benjamin.

F.A.

http://www.archi-art.net/forum/download.php/1,14/flyer%20WB%20-%20MD.jpg