Mode d'emploi - Suivre les instructions de l'artiste

Published to coincide with the exhibition “Mode d’emploi – suivre les instructions de l’artiste”, this book focuses on the protocol-based works that have been part of contemporary art from the 1960s to the present day. A protocol work is manifested by a statement, formulated by the artist, that describes the conditions of its appearance. Based on these instructions (written, drawn or spoken), the work can be produced by a third party. This mode of creation overturns the concept of the work of art: based on the same protocol, numerous activations of the work are possible, varying in form according to their location and the decisions of the people responsible for their activation.

To reflect this specificity, each of the 800 copies of this book offers different visual interpretations for each work exhibited, created by computer programs devised by the graphic designers: each book is therefore unique. Challenging notions of authorship, originality and durability, the works with protocols embody a radically new way of thinking about the work of art, which this book invites readers to discover and experiment with.

If the existence of a protocol work depends on its context of activation, how can we think about its representation? How can we represent a work whose form evolves or results from the space in which it is inscribed? How can we account for the plurality of materializations resulting from the same protocol in an exhibition catalog? With these questions in mind, this book proposes as many representations of works as there are copies. Each of the 800 books is unique, and presents different virtual interpretations of the works. Based on the constraints and instructions of the protocols (dimensions, construction procedures, materials, hanging characteristics, etc.), a series of computer programs generates random and variable virtual models. These visualizations are so many possible activations that their plurality calls into question notions of the uniqueness of the work, or of the book. For both the program and the protocol, the text operates performatively, and its execution “gives form”. Human interpretation is replaced by parametric algorithms whose values are randomly determined for each copy. This operation of human-machine delegation and cooperation directly echoes the co-authorship inherent in all protocol-based works and, by extension, offers a new perspective on the articulation between print publishing and digital technologies.