In 1986, macLYON organized the first George Brecht retrospective, the only in his lifetime, dedicated to Events. True to his nature, Brecht did not come to his own exhibition. Although he considered the “activity” of exhibiting to be important, he was indifferent to whether what was displayed was art or not: “I never think of what I do as being art or not. It's an activity. That's all”. The artworks on display were therefore borrowed from collectors or rebuilt. Reconstructed artworks were approved of by the artist, through photographs and telephone confirmation. A letter bears testimony to this exchange.
A selection from Brecht’s Glass & Chair Events and Scores will be displayed to coincide with the 2012 Cage’s Satie: Composition for Museum (curated by Laura Kuhn, at macLYON).
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George Brecht's various works are presented in the exhibition.
Event Scores : George Brecht wanted his compositions to be performed with the utmost seriousness because these were indeed “works of art”, even if the author himself chose not to use this term, as he feared it would immediately “categorize” his work. His compositions can be performed by everyone, based on what the performer understands, feels and imagines from these oftentimes rather enigmatic musical scores.
Of all the Scores in Water Yam (a book or anthology of Brecht’s Events in the form of a small box published in 1963 containing printed cards), the museum has chosen to put the spotlight on a small selection of these. They are placed on the wall, like paintings (we hope that Brecht wouldn’t reproach us such an interpretation; indeed, for Brecht ‘interpretation’ by its very nature would allow such a proposition).
Event Glasses are glass rectangles, of different sizes, whose dimensions are randomly chosen. They are mounted on metallic supports and the word “Event” is engraved on each piece of glass. Therefore, everything that happens behind the glass, according to the observer’s point of view, is an “Event”: “Everything belongs to the same whole, this is the event”. The position of each Event Glass is drawn by lot using a table with random numbers: the Event can therefore be indifferently positioned in the centre of an empty space, in front of another artwork or at the end of a corridor.
The Chair Events are a poetic association of ideas and actions which a priori, have no direct relationship or connection. Chairs and objects are sometimes accompanied by stories or information, much of which has been taken from the Guinness Book of Records.
Vide is a relatively large pebble that has been shaped over time by the river Rhône. It was chosen by Brecht along the banks of the river and was then engraved with the word “Vide”.
