{"id":9451,"date":"2023-09-14T12:41:06","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T16:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fondationguidomolinari.org\/en\/?p=9451"},"modified":"2024-01-08T15:39:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T20:39:36","slug":"loeil-attentif","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fondationguidomolinari.org\/en\/loeil-attentif\/","title":{"rendered":"L’\u0153il attentif<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Curator : Marie Fraser<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

L\u2019\u0153il attentif [2023] Guido Molinari Foundation<\/strong>
L’\u0153il attentif<\/em> reconstructs a fragment of the The Responsive Eye<\/em> exhibition presented in 1965 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It brings together works by Johanna Barron, Tammi Campbell, Ellsworth Kelly, Guido Molinari, Barnett Newman and Claude Tousignant, exhibition views by photographer George Cersna and some sixty documents that offer a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes of The Responsive Eye<\/em> and the unparalleled circulation of artworks during one of the most critical periods of the Cold War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Responsive Eye [1965] MoMA<\/strong>
Regarded as the seminal exhibition of \u201cOp art\u201d or optical art, The Responsive Eye<\/em> featured 99 artists and 123 works from 15 countries in Europe, South America, Asia, Israel, Canada and the USA. To announce the exhibition, the museum exceptionally issued a series of press releases in several of the artists’ home countries. The one sent out to the Canadian media presented the three Canadian-born artists, who have since become historical figures: Agnes Martin (born in Macklin, Saskatchewan), Guido Molinari and Claude Tousignant (both born in Montreal). Could bringing the three artists’ works together again, this time in Montreal, recreate the special atmosphere the 1965 exhibition must have generated? By experimenting with visual processes\u2014the grid, vertical stripes and the target\u2014their paintings give one an idea of the \u201cresponsive eye\u201d that describe Op art: an art in which colour, rhythm, the impression of movement and vibration generate optical sensations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigative Museology<\/strong>
The Responsive Eye <\/em>caught our attention because of its international scope, which was quite rare at the time. L’\u0153il attentif<\/em> explores this new mobility of art and compares it with the circulation of exhibitions at the height of the Cold War, and the role that MoMA sought to play on the international scene, both artistically and geopolitically. While our investigation provides a glimpse of the artistic atmosphere of the 1950s and 1960s, marked by numerous exchanges between Montreal and New York, it has most of all led us down unsuspected paths to the offices of the CIA\u2014the Central Intelligence Agency\u2014in Langley, Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Marie Fraser<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research project Investigative Museology is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). L\u2019\u0153il attentif<\/em> also receives support from the Chaire de recherche en \u00e9tudes et pratiques curatoriales de l\u2019UQAM and the Art et Mus\u00e9e team, which is funded by the Fonds de recherche du Qu\u00e9bec (FRQSC) and associated with the CI\u00c9CO<\/a> research and reflection group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the exhibition flyer below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n