Robert Barry, On Kawara, Christian Marclay, Annette Messager, Allen Ruppersberg - Art Basel - Art fairmfc-michèle didier | Paris - Brussels -

ART BASEL 2016
June 16-19, 2016
Basel, Swiss

The span of the human hand is greater than the distance between the eye and the ear. So it?s no surprise that artists, as well as viewers and listeners, are attracted by music and visual art.

With the close relationship between art and music in mind, mfc-michèle didier has decided to propose for Art Basel 2016 a project that was completely dedicated to music, in all its forms, showing various examples of contemporary artists crossing over between art and music.

Nevertheless, the music is not always where you expect it most.
First, the four letters that forms the neon tubes by Maurizio Nannucci will set the tone: HEAR. So the public is invited to keep an ear as well as to keep an eye.
Then there was Christian Marclay?s musical score Ephemera, which is the result of the long-term accumulation of eclectic and decorative musical notations, gleaned from here and there in various advertisements, illustrations, menus, candy wrappings and more.

More conceptual, the graphical score of One Billion Colored Dots by Robert Barry counts one billion colored dots printed on 25 volumes. With this accumulation of dots emerge a repetitive visual melody close to some musical compositions by  La Monte Young and John Cage.
Also, there will be Allen Ruppersberg?s, El Segundo Record Club, the record store imagined by Allen Ruppersberg in 2014, following the mythical tradition of the 1969 Al?s cafe and the 1971 Al?s Grand Hotel. The two projects consisted, respectively, of opening a fully-functioning café and hotel; the originality coming from the fact that they were run according to rules defined by the artist.

Our booth will also be the place to rediscover Raymond Pettibon?s iconic Black Flag posters and flyers. Emblematical figure of the West Coast Culture, Raymond Pettibon is the artist behind the iconography of the famous punk group Black Flag.
In line with Rock is my religion by Dan Graham, the two videos Stooges burn out and Dance practice by Dave Allen, Douglas Gordon and Jonathan Monk will remember that rock and contemporary art are linked since the ?60s.

Saâdane Afif will also be presented on our booth with a series of limited edition posters. Produced on the occasion of an exhibition / performance, each design lists the title and date of the related project, as well as the names of any additional collaborators. Like concert posters, Fantasmagoria (poster), R.L/Pompidou II (poster) and Blue Time PDT (poster) are both announcement and archival document.

And of course, there will be two volumes of the epic work One Million Years by On Kawara that will be on display to the sound of the record of its famous performance: a man and a woman reading the years in order, switching of the odd and even years, in a steady, slow rhythm, a sort of conceptual and metaphysical music, placing the listener into a meditative state.

Like a song lyric, Ma collection de proverbes by Annette Messager will warning tirelessly against the misogyny chorus.
So, with all these works, and this three generations of artists, our booth at Art Basel 2016 will definitely resonate to the sound and the vision of music.