Music Hall
Noëlle Pujol
Exhibition 10.15.2022 > 03.19.2023
Mrac Occitanie, Sérignan
Curator:
Clément Nouet
Exhibition designers:
Léah Friedman, Éléonore Kabouche and
Sarah Lacueille
The exhibition presents Noëlle Pujol's movie "Lettres de Didier"
(66 mn), released in 2021, screened in a dedicated space. Following this film, Noëlle Pujol wished to create a musical fantasy "Boum! Boum !" in which she mixes the words of her disabled brother with her daily environment: the Flea Market of Saint Ouen. The story of this musical fantasy is then transposed into the exhibition space.
Based on the written script, drawings, photographs, set elements, accessories and drafts of filmed sequences, this exhibition tells the story of the film in its process of creation. By circulating in several scenographed spaces, the links are recreated, the scenario develops itself, and a back and forth is established between filmed scenes and objects in the space.
This documentary research in situ is found in the exhibition room: the steps in front of the flea market stalls in Saint Ouen become walkways opening onto the projection of "Lettres de Didier", the blue lights evoke those of the bridge at the Porte de Montmartre and the floor markings of the "Carré des Biffins" in the 18th arrondissement of Paris are moved onto the exhibition floor...
Anaïs Bonnel
Manager of school audiences and Digital Communication
" Following the artist's footsteps in Saint Ouen, the cosmopolitan place of the flea market of the same name, the set designers immersed themselves in the spaces, ambiances, sounds and lights of this particular atmosphere. From the covered market of the Serpettes to the cafés frequented by the artist, they were able to discover the settings and characters that inspired Noëlle Pujol in her writings and films.
As if reading a film with the director's comments, they were confronted with the artist's references and views. They then became Noëlle Pujol's collaborators, leaving for a moment the status of students to become imbued with the artistic work that they deliver to us here in an inspired scenography and making Noëlle Pujol's intimate universe permeable to the world. This documentary research in situ is found in the exhibition room: the steps in front of the flea market stalls in Saint Ouen become walkways opening onto the projection of "Lettres de Didier", the blue lights evoke those of the bridge at the Porte de Montmartre and the floor markings of the "Carré des Biffins" in the 18th arrondissement of Paris are moved onto the exhibition floor... The primary role of the scenographers is also to make possible, taking into account the place, these urban evocations. The decor is then planted and then modified. If it was planned a corridor of metal curtains in the center of the space, the technical impossibility ordered an adaptation. The scenography, then in constant evolution, was thought differently but by preserving the presence of the elements to preserve the spirit of the visited places.
If the constraint of the exhibition room is sometimes an obstacle, it was also a constructive tool for the scenographers. Indeed, wanting to retranscribe the industrial character of some warehouses of the Flea Market, the materials available in the place - raw concrete, ceilings and absence of windows - were a godsend. Writing and showing a scenario in the manner of pictorial works is one of the perceptible emanations of these interrogations.
No museum distance between the object and the spectator, no sound shower (directional loudspeakers) but the possibility of sounds that may overlap, or the avoidance of the comfort of the cinema in front of the videos but simple platforms to sit on. We are there again in the precariousness of the Flea Market. In the museum certainly, but elsewhere.
The exhibition shows at the same time the scenario written by the artist's hand, the scenario of images and the scenario of objects. The challenge is to show these different sets by giving them marked identities in a single exhibition space. This space becomes a laboratory for the unfinished work. The scenographers by making objects, writings, videos and sounds cohabit at a given moment, reveal a new creative material for Noëlle Pujol, which may in turn find a resonance in the finished film. "