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Unglee

Video installation — Fondation d'entreprise espace écureuil pour l'art contemporain

unglee, non, 2000-2001

projection vidéo, 9'25"

He lives in Paris.

 

"No" is one of the first word in our vocabulary. Perhaps the most primitive, but also the most necessary : it asserts our independence and protects us from the other. With this work, Unglee takes up this word nOn (2000-2001) in a pleading tone. In the artist's book, what is involved is a word that is repeated in the words of popular songs, especially those in the "easy listening" slot. "Non, ne me quitte pas/No, don't leave me" and "Non ne t'en va pas/No, don't go". In this video four men repeat these stereotyped and sentimental sentences in three languages, Italian, English and French, with a cadence which calls to mind the melodies of romantic songs, while at the same time revealing our need to love and feel loved, and our fear of being left alone and abandoned.