ST. ETIENNE.- The “Micro-Narratives, Tentation des petites réalités” exhibition, which is on show through 21 September at Saint-Etienne Métropole’s museum of modern art, brings together 85 living artists from different generations and from 25 different countries*. This exhibition, which is being commissioned by museum director Lorand Hegyi, was presented as a slightly different version at the 48th October exhibition in Belgrade, which was organised by the Belgrade Cultural Centre.

As a continuation of the “Settlements” exhibitions shown in 2004 and “Domicile : privé/public” (Home: private/public) of 2005, “Micro-Narratives” is looking to establish the state of play of a new attitude towards art for an era witnessing the radicalisation of global conflicts, religious values, ideologies, socio-cultural systems and the end of major truths. It focuses on the growing interest shown by artists for small realities, for the multiplying numbers of spontaneous socio-cultural environments and for phenomena involving micro-communication. Philosophers Arthur C. Danto and Jean-François Lyotard have identified the end of major accounts and universal subjects, and are focusing attention on “small accounts” or micro-narratives. These accounts no longer belong to intellectuals but instead to artists, who operate in micro-social situations with local starting positions. Today, the artist is no longer seen to be an intellectual with the right to act on behalf of a
universal subject.

Within such a context, artists develop an emotional approach towards what surrounds them. The effect of this is an artistic practice centred on new creative processes that are more sensitive, anti-hierarchical, antimonumental, personal and modest. We are dealing with a poetic micro-narration which expresses a personal investment made by the artist and which localises the practice of art within the complex and versatile arrangement of social relationships. Pedro Cabrita Reis (Portugal) produces his sculptures from simple materials that bear the mark of gestures from everyday life; the small drawings made by Laura Lancaster (United Kingdom) derive from old Chinese photographs of family life; the highly elaborate paper houses by Anila Rubiku (Albania) are reflections of her life, her origins and her central areas of interest; the work of Barthélémy Toguo (Cameroon) evokes his life of transit and contradictions between Paris and Bandjoun; all or part of the work of many other well-known artists such as John Armleder (Switzerland), Jean-Michel Alberola (France) and Gloria Friedmann (Germany), as well as of younger ones such as Daniel Chust Peters (Brazil), Yee Sookyung (South Korea) and Sandra Vasquez from la Horra (Chile), examines the attention paid to the little things that make up our lives. Gentleness, flexibility and empathy are the watchwords of a new strategy which observes and assesses small, direct realities, with an increased awareness of nuances, details and personal aspects, corresponding to a contemporary artistic practice that is local and evident. The micronarratives are meant to reflect our contemporary era based on spontaneity, tolerance and a fragile, modest and sincere awareness.

All the artists brought together at the exhibition are facing problems of creating new anthropological constellations and situations involving micro-communication. A significant number of women are involved with the show. Perhaps this shows that art at the beginning of the 21st century has a particular affinity for emotional investment and empathy, ie. an aptitude for behaviour that is gentle, personal and sophisticated towards small realities, and thus showing a certain entity that is feminine and anti-monumental. Korean artist Kimsooja, through her video A Beggar Woman, a beggar woman seen from behind sitting silently in the street, obliges the visitor to ask questions about the status of the artist, of the spectator, of the woman, and probably even of the human being.