Invited to contribute to the first of four exhibitions taking place at the newly created Espace Ladda, Argos chose to present recent artists’ videos with a rather personal approach towards the topic of “skills”: present both on the level of artistic production, and within the content of the selected works, skills are inextricably linked to the artistic field. They are what it takes to make art and, as this selections shows, can be considered as being a work of “art” in themselves – like the football-player in Michel Francois’ video who succeeds in hitting his ball without ever stopping, or the astonishing capacity of cutting the very chair one is sitting on, demonstrated by Messieurs Delmotte. The selection of works ranges from Steve Reinke’s loquaciously witty, sometimes naughty video-collages to Michel François’ almost “sculptural” views of minor gestures and details, including Bernard Gigounon’s handy suggestions on “how to kill time”, as well as Charley Case’s holistic animation-like works and examples of Messieurs Delmotte’s alter ego’s hilarious and heroic battle with objects of every-day life. Combining unexpected movements of the body and the mind, this programme represents physical and mental skills alike.  

Works shown:

Bernard Gigounon, Remèdes à l’ennui, 2000, 13’, colour PAL, sound.
Michel François, Footballeur, 1993,  3’ 54”, colour PAL, sound.
Charley Case, Mort de rire,  2006, 1’ 46”, colour PAL, sound.
Charley Case, Caminothéraphie, 2005, 49’, b/w, colour PAL, sound.
Steve Reinke, Little Faggot. The Hundred Videos, Vol. II, # 29, 1997, 2’ 34”, colour NTSC, English spoken.
Steve Reinke, Instructions for recovering forgotten childhood memories, The Hundred Videos, Volume III, # 35, 1997, 2’ 14”, colour NTSC, English spoken.
Messieurs Delmotte, Non-stop design,  1998, 5’, colour PAL, sound.
Messieurs Delmotte, Portemanteau, 2000, 8’ 35, colour PAL, sound.
Steve Reinke, Falling, The Hundred Videos, Volume V, #91, 1997, 2’ 26”, colour NTSC, English spoken.
Steve Reinke, How to build an Igloo, The Hundred Videos, Volume IV, #75, 1997, 1’ 02”, colour NTSC, English spoken.
Steve Reinke, Language of Rats, The Hundred Videos, Volume II, # 17, 1997, 3’ 30”, colour NTSC, English spoken.  

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