The crypt
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When proposing to make the nation the owner of ecclesiastical properties, Mirabeau raised a huge question, which was intensified by the struggle of the Revolution against the «monuments of superstition»: what status to give to paintings and sculptures which were above all objects of worship, which took their very meaning, and perhaps their beauty, from the reverence which surrounded them ? Once removed from all religious context and stripped of their symbolic nature, could they become «works of art» ? Roland Schaer. 1993. L’invention des musées. Paris: Gallimard, p. 53. Sculpteur inconnu. XVe siècle. Vierge de piété (en deux parties). Haut-Valais. Bois sculpté, polychromie d’origine. H.: 86,5 cm. Christ amovible, remplacé par un Christ enfant pendant la période de Noël. Coll. privée. |
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| Artisan inconnu. XIXe siècle. Tapis
afghan-hatchlou. 279 x 184 cm. Prêt Hans Hassler SA, Neuchâtel. No
374 348. |
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The religion of art was born, just like the religion of politics, on the ruins of Christianity. Art has inherited from the old religion the power to consecrate things and to grant them a form of eternity: museums are our temples and the objects that are exhibited in them are placed beyond history; politics – or more precisely: the Revolution – confiscated the other function of religion: to change man and society. Art was an asceticism, a spiritual heroism; the Revolution was the construction of a universal church. Octavio Paz. 1974. Hommage aux mains: artisanat contemporain mondial. Neuchâtel: Ides et Calendes, pp. 17-18.
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The crypt
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The ecclesiastical tradition […] has provided us with a deeply rooted ideal of spiritual experience and a habit of religious attentiveness and piety towards works of art. It has also created an intellectual class taken from the clergy to guide and steer this spiritual experience and the discourse connected to it. Faith has been lost, but religious feelings and habits of austere spirituality have remained. They have been transformed into a religion of fine arts, a new kingdom of high spirituality governed by a new class of high priests, the artists and the intellectual critics. Richard Shusterman. 1991. L’art à l’état vif: la pensée pragmatiste et l’esthétique populaire. Paris: Minuit, p. 178.
Lausanne, 19 mai 1999 Cher Marc-Olivier, Pour votre expo qui s’ouvrira le 12 juin, avez-vous consacré un espace à Jésus-Christ ? Je veux parler d’un artiste exemplaire de la modernité et remonter au-delà de l’incontournable Duchamp, d’Yves Klein et de Beuys. Il y a deux mille ans, Jésus-Christ n’a pas pris la peine d’écrire la moindre ligne, s’est offert le luxe de happenings plus stupéfiants les uns que les autres avec ses miracles, s’est permis une pratique incomparable du body art, d’abord avec la résurrection de Lazare puis au Golgotha, enfin s’est autorisé, avec l’eucharistie, une théâtralisation de l’art qui est symptôme de sa transformation en événement. Avec l’espoir que le soleil sera de la fête samedi 12, je t’envoie mes joyeuses salutations. Avec ma main amie. D. Rd
> Clip
vidéo Fabrica.
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