Motive Gallery

Books, archives, and libraries, in addition to film, feature frequently in Aurelien Froment’s work. In the video work ‘L’Adaptation manifeste’ (The Genuine Adaptation, 2008), Froment investigates the act of reading as represented in film. An actor, Karine Lazard, was asked to perform scenes from movies in which reading takes place, imitating the actions of Brigitte Bardot in ‘Le Mépris,’ Julianne Moore in ‘The Hours,’ Oskar Werner in ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ and others. The props are limited to a chair, a bed, and so forth, and aside from the acting, no information is given or attempt made to indicate the sources. Expanding on Froment’s characteristic technique of isolating and distorting perspective, the video functions as both an anthology of the “reading on film” motif and a précis of various film genres and acting styles, while drawing our attention to the role of the inanimate book as we consider the scenes at hand. The re-enacted episodes at the same time almost perversely turn the solitary and cerebral act of reading into a highly performative and manifestly outward act. (Jessica Morgan for Art Forum, September 2008)