DUST: The Plates of the Present is a collective photographic archive, initiated between 2013 and 2018 by French painter Thomas Fougeirol and Hong Kong-born American artist and curator Jo-ey Tang. They have invited 136 artists — including photographers, graphic designers, filmmakers, musicians, and writers, of different nationalities, some working in collaboration — to produce a series of 8 photograms in an improvised darkroom, which they named DUST, in Ivry-sur-Seine, France. As a large-scale collective work that constructs an archive in time, DUST: The Plates of the Present pays homage to a vanishing form of image-making as much as it echoes the upheaval in artistic production and collaboration practices with particular resonance in the current pandemic situation.
In 2019, Thomas Fougeirol and Jo-ey Tang donated the complete archive of DUST: The Plates of the Present, comprising 1031 photograms and a video, to the Musée national d’art moderne.
This exceptional work constitutes an important enrichment to the collection of Musée national d’art moderne, where experimental photography occupies a prominent place.
The photogram is an imprint of light and its process eludes anticipation. It belongs to an image culture on the brink of disappearance, that is being replaced by algorithm-generated images in the current digital era. However, contemporary artists continue to draw upon the technique of the photogram, for its visual and experimental potentials. The resulting collective work of DUST: The Plates of the Present is an homage to photography, to its early history, and to the 20th century avant-garde’s experimentations with photograms.
Early iterations of DUST: The Plates of the Present were the subject of exhibitions at BAXTER ST / Camera Club of New York, in 2015, curated by Sonel Breslav, and Praz-Delavallade, Paris, in 2017.
ARTISTS
Madeleine Aktypi, Roxane Alaime, Laëtitia Badaut Haussmann, Daniela Baldelli, Antoine Barberon, Anthea Behm, Jesús Alberto Benítez, Emilie Benoist, Simon Bernheim, Julien Bettoli, Viktoria Binschtok, Jean-Luc Blanc, Julien Bouillon, Jade Boyeldieu d’Auvigny, Guillaume Bresson, Nancy Brooks Brody, Laura Brunellière, Aïda Bruyère, Molly Jo Burke, A.K. Burns, Robin Cameron, Julien Carreyn, Davide Cascio, Léo Chalié, Lorraine Châteaux, Éléonore Cheneau, Léo Chesneau, Victoire Coyon, Cécile Dauchez, Raffaella della Olga, Nicolas Descottes, Chris Domenick, Antoine Donzeaud, Ben Dowell, DROOID5Z, Mimosa Echard, Sonja Engelhardt, Joy Episalla, Sylvie Fanchon, Camila Farina, Marina Faust, Amanda Grace Finkel, Benoit Fougeirol, Thomas Fougeirol, ¡Katie B Funk!, Paul Gacon, Munro Galloway, Mar García Albert, Theo Ghiglia, Daiga Grantina, Nathan Gwynne, Hiroshi Hayakawa, Yin Ho, My-Lan Hoang-Thuy, Helen Hoffelt, Katherine Hubbard, Mo Husain, Hervé Ic, Joseph Imhauser, Betsy Kenyon, Tatiana Kronberg, Antonia Kuo, Emmanuel Lagarrigue, Fabien Lamarque, Nokukhanya Langa, Laura Larson, Nathalie Lété, Nadia Lichtig, Agnes Lux, Jean-Baptiste Maitre, Tangui Marchand, Hubert Marot, Linda Matalon, Kathy L. McGhee, Rayane Mcirdi, Adrien Menard, Danielle Michaux Samson, Anthony Miler, James Miller, Zane Miller, Joe Namy, Bettie Nin, Cécile Noguès, Nick Oberthaler, Camila Oliveira Fairclough, J. Pasila, Julie Pasila, Zoë Paul, JiaHao Peng, Richard Petry, Lia Pradal, Libby Pratt, Chloé Quenum, Shanta Rao, Renaud Regnery, Patricia Reinhart, Carlos Reyes, Samuel Richardot, Aaron Richardson, Evariste Richer, Tim Rietenbach, Marla Roddy, Clémence Roudil, George Rush, Anne Laure Sacriste, Pepo Salazar, Loup Sarion, Adrian Sauer, Amelia Saul, Amy Schuessler, Takuji Shimmura, Suzanne Silver, Julien Sirjacq, Duncan J. Snyder, Allison Somers, Jesse Stecklow, Michael Stickrod, Camille Tallent, Tarwuk, Gwenn Thomas, Jared Thorne, Agnès Thurnauer, Alicia Tréminio, Delphine Trouche, Nickolaus Typaldos, France Valliccioni, Jérôme Valton, Emmanuel Van der Meulen, Sergio Verastegui, Yonatan Vinitsky, G. William Webb, Claire Elyce Wiedman, Isobel Wohl, Ofer Wolberger, Carrie Yamaoka, Jia Jia Zhang
Dust : The Plates of the Present
Until March 21st, 2021
Le Centre Pompidou
Galerie de photographies, Forum-1
Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004 Paris, France
Le Centre Pompidou is currently closed
A catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibition.
