Laurent Montaron (*1972, Verneuil-sur-Avre, France; lives and works in Paris) is an interdisciplinary artist working across film, photography, installation, sound, and objects. His work is suffused with the contemporary history of the mass media and questions the tools that shape representation, with a special interest in the legacy of cinema. By revealing the somewhat irrational element of belief involved with emerging techniques, his works remind us that while technology has provided new means of perceiving and representing reality, it has not necessarily brought us closer to the truth for it has also given rise to new ways of questioning paradoxes related to our awareness of modernity.

“Replica” Montaron’s solo exhibition at the CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo and his first solo exhibition in Israel will include a series of existing works, a new work especially conceived for the Center’s ground floor gallery, as well as a specially commissioned film that will be presented in the Marc Schimmel Multipurpose Gallery. Among the existing works included in the exhibition will be Train de cerfs-volants Saconney (2016), which consists of a large installation featuring kites used during WWI for aerial photography, and SAL (2018), a site-specific corner piece featuring salt from the Dead Sea displayed on the northeast side of the gallery. The new work conceived for the Center will consist of a slide projection that fades as soon as a viewer approaches the projector.

“Laurent Montaron: Replica” was initiated by Sergio Edelsztein and is curated by Nicola Trezzi.

The exhibition is accompanied by printed matter in Hebrew, Arabic and English and an exhibiton tour on June 7; for an extensive investigation of Montaron’s practice click HERE to read an essay written by Mike Sperlinger, commissioned by TextWork, the editorial platform of Pernod Ricard Foundation, Paris.

Part of the Saison France Israël 2018, “Laurent Montaron: Replica” is supported by the Institut Français, Israël, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ostrovsky Family Fund (OFF) ,Susanna Perini, Fondation Pluriel, MONITOR, Rome / Lisbon,Galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou, Paris, Philippe Cohen, and Verrerie Saint-Just, Saint Gobain, France; hospitality provided by Artport.

Following the exhibition, a monograph with content in English, French, Hebrew and Arabic, was published by Mousse – a collaboration between CCA, Pernod Ricard Foundation, Les Moulins de Paillard, and Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette.

Images

1

Train de cerfs-volants Saconney – Replica, 2018

Bamboo, cotton fabric, cord, 4×5 large format camera, installation view at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo

Courtesy of the artist, Anne-Sarah Bénichou, Paris and Monitor, Rome / Lisbon / Pereto (Portugal)

Photo: Eyal Agivayev

2

Focus – Replica, 2018

Rolleivision66 projector, apple boxes, slide, installation view at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo

Courtesy of the artist, Anne-Sarah Bénichou, Paris and Monitor, Rome / Lisbon / Pereto (Portugal)

Photo: Eyal Agivayev

3

Blida – Replica, 2018

Glass, knucklebones, red paint, installation view at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo

Courtesy of the artist, Anne-Sarah Bénichou, Paris and Monitor, Rome / Lisbon / Pereto (Portugal)

Photo: Eyal Agivayev

4

ecce, 2018

Super 16mm film, installation view at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo

Courtesy of the artist, Anne-Sarah Bénichou, Paris, and Monitor, Rome / Lisbon / Pereto (Portugal)

Photo: Eyal Agivayev