Minimal

So, as you can see, Minimal, which is hosted by the Bourse de Commerce, the former building of the Paris Stock exchange, is definitely not built just to do fashionable Instagram pics (although you could, of course). And it also doesn’t matter at all if you consider yourself a minimalist, a maximalist, or a somewhere-in-between-ist, to enjoy it. No, you just have to allow yourself to immerse into the more than a hundred major artworks that the French entrepreneur and art collector François Pinault started assembling over fifty years ago. Works that mirror and explore how artists from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s, mainly independently from one another, started to rethink the definition of the art object all over the world — Asia, Europe, North, South and Central America. All connected through the three original characteristics of Minimal Art: the economy of the means, pared-down aesthetics, and the reconsideration of the artwork’s placement in relation to the viewer.

And this concept of an exhibition that embraces minimalism as a global movement is long overdue. Because let’s be real, so far, the narrative of this type of art definitely has been dominated by the American counter-movement to Abstract Expressionism. Famous through Mary Corse’s white light paintings. Through Donald Judd’s strictly geometrical sculptures. Through Robert Morris and Carl Andre. Some of them are of course also represented in Pinault Collection’s exhibition. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be complete. But, there is so much more to Minimal Art you can discover in the rooms of the Bourse de Commerce. Finally. 

There’s the Mono-ha movement from Japan, showcased through works of Lee Ufan, Kishio Suga, Jiro Takamatsu, and Nobuo Sekine among others. A movement that focuses on the encounter and relationships between natural and industrial materials in mostly unaltered states. Unaltered, that means arrangements of stone, steel, glass, wood. A reflection on the industrialisation of the East Asian island nation, and a renewed awareness of existence and nature. There is Zero, the avant-garde artist group from Germany that sought a new beginning in art as a reaction to the post-war cultural devastation. A new beginning that included purist aesthetics, monochrome or bright colours, and geometric forms. There is the Italian Arte Povera and there are the Brazilian neo-concrete artists who are known for their sensual abstraction that countered the rigid visual language of concrete art by creating an intimate connection to the viewer. 

One highlight of the exhibition is definitely the installation by San Francisco-born artist Meg Webster in the building’s Rotunda: Here, there are five different sculptural works exhibited that explore themes like ecology, climate change, humankind’s admiration for nature and our desire to control and contain all of it at the same time. The sculptures were created from locally sourced soil, twigs, salt, clay, and wax. Mound (1988) being constructed from yellow ochre clay mixed with sand and pressed into shape, while Mother Mound (1990) was made from red earth that echoes the curvature of the Rotunda’s glass dome. A fun fact for you: All of Webster’s pieces make her more of an engineer and gardener, kind of. Because her artworks require care, watering, pruning, raking and are in a way treated as living beings.

Now, we have to come back to the beginning, to the three characteristics of Minimal Art that you remember for sure. But to refresh your memory, we’re talking about the economy of the means, pared-down aesthetics, and a reconsideration of the artwork’s placement in relation to the viewer. Why do we have to come back to that? Because this is the most important and most fun part of this exhibition: As this last characteristic demands, Pinault Collection’s exhibition challenges traditional methods of display. Pieces are, just like in the shift of the 60s and 70s, not presented on pedestals or against walls at a discrete distance from the viewer. Instead, the artworks purposely enter the space of the visitors. And through that, inviting them to experience everything through a more direct, bodily interaction that integrates the viewer as well as environment into the artwork itself. 

It's hard to explain. I know. Very abstract. But everything in this exhibition is abstract. So, if you don’t get it, just go to the Bourse de Commerce, and walk through Webster’s captivating installation path in the Rotunda. And while you do that, ask yourself, are you becoming a part of the installation? In the end, you are the one who is allowed to change perspective. To compare shapes and details. Experiencing everything through your own senses: Sight, smell, touch, and hearing. Because if you weren’t in there, in between the sharply defined volumes, the sculptures wouldn’t make sense. Webster’s work and message wouldn’t exist in a way. And while you’re in it, try to forget about quiet luxury, digital detox, Jil Sander and Parasite. Try to forget this idea that Minimalism is just an Instagrammable and fancy lifestyle. It’s passion. It’s zeitgeist. Critique. Immersion and experience. Just like Minimal shows. So, do yourself a favour and just try to enjoy it.