raconte-moi / tell me

Questioned and reshaped by numerous artists currently seeking to renew its frontiers, the narrative is presented is like a space in transformation where the boundaries between fiction and reality are constantly put into play. There is a questioning of the text or sound/image relation and its unfolding over time. The disruption of narrative boundaries thus shakes up our habits of perception.The tell me exhibition includes fourteen artists who are not necessarily seeking, strictly speaking, a representation of a narrative or a mise en scène of stories, but to produce a narrative by suggesting fictional atmospheres, gathering true personal accounts and exploring the narrative potential of everyday reality. The images on show obviously tell stories, but they are not necessarily to be looked at as one would look at a cinema narrative, or read in linear fashion like a book; they are open to numerous possible readings and interpretations.

"How can narratives convey the complexity of present-day life and the world in which we live? Doesn't storytelling today require devices other than those of traditional fiction? In the field of visual arts, we are witnessing a breakdown of narrative borders that disrupts our perceptual horizons and habits but, in return, creates more open, unfinished and often complex stories. It is with this in mind that raconte-moi brings together artists who seek as much to question or thwart narratives as to produce them. Many of the works upset our frames of reference by means of arborescent, immersive narrative experiences that elate, or disconcert. Others place us in situations of unfulfilled expectancy, or blur the frontiers of fiction and reality. This exploration also involves a reflection on time and the use of narrative processes derived from cinema, music or sound." (Marie Fraser)