The world upside down: The artist is standing in a suit and tie; he has climbed onto a pulpit, and his hands grip a wooden balcony that is floating on the water. Behind him the Bay of Hong Kong extends as far as the eye can see, but is turned at a ninety-degree angle, its skyscrapers strangely reclining, horizontal. With this unsettling image—Balcon II (Hong-Kong), 2001—Philippe Ramette superbly demonstrates the use that can be made of the strange furniture he has been constructing for more than ten years. Here, a Canon à paroles (Word cannon), 2001; there, a Fauteuil à coup de foudre

A “retouched self-portrait” published in 1962 presents Robert Breer—an American artist born in Detroit in 1926—with his face half-photographed and half-drawn, as though he were being absorbed little by little into his work; he sits at a table in his studio, surrounded by reels of film and strange objects virtually animated by little arrows. This, then, is the surprising and amusing universe that the artist has constructed in all his drawings, films, and objects since the late ’50s, one entirely ruled by movement, abstract figures, and forms come to life. within the lineage of Viking