Jimmy Robert

For the first Satellite Program exhibition curated by Filipa Oliveira, Jimmy Robert has produced reflections on his personal and artistic education. Langue matérielle (Material Language), 2011, is the title of both the show and an installation that links a small space halfway down the stairs and the basement gallery: A long roll of archival paper is draped over the balustrade and held down by MDF covered in beech, ink-jet prints, and dribbles of pink epoxy paint. Langue means “tongue” in French; langue matérielle is a pun on langue maternelle, or “mother tongue.” As a Guadeloupean brought up partly in France, Robert’s relationship to the French language is inevitably complex. His use of materials suggests a highly aestheticized and distanced dose of defiance. The visible Pantone labels—“F230 Rose dragée” (Sugared-Almond Pink), “F264 Tête de nègre” (Negro’s Head), “F270 Tulipe noire” (Black Tulip)—poetically suggest confrontations with forms of discrimination.

The other works on view are short filmed performances. In Paramètres, 2011, Robert sits at a table facing a pile of A4 cards with geometric drawings and cutout patterns, and picks each one up after the next, from left to right and vice versa. During this process, one of the litanies he repeats in French is: “Set up the parameters, adjust the structure.” The didactic presentation points at all the authoritative codes, rules, and systems that format our lives. Downstairs the only sound is the frenzied noise of rustling paper in the video Untitled (Folding 2), 2011, where forced, albeit playful, construction is once again on the agenda. The camera focuses on the artist’s hands folding and manipulating a photograph into various forms. In Vocabulary, 2011, Robert dances to tunes on his iPod, dressed in plain jeans and a T-shirt similar to what Bruce Nauman wore in his 1960s action videos. Robert repeats nine different routines, each for a length of time during which a defining word appears over the image that humorously refers back to art-world rigors and conventions: from MODERNIST to CONFORMIST via WHATEVER!