Rirkrit Tiravanija: PLAY | Music and fun

A bar, a music studio and an augmented reality space. The PHI Foundation wishes to put forward “an exhibition that makes room for participation”. Rirkrit Tiravanija: PLAY invites all visitors to chat with each other, play music and have a drink until March 10, 2024.

It is in a relaxed and open atmosphere that Melissa Karmen Lee, guest curator, and Cheryl Sim, curator of the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, welcome the public to the exhibition rooms transformed into staged environments. which recall those of everyday life. If this multidisciplinary exhibition offers a retrospective of the major artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, while offering an updated vision of his work, it remains a reflection of his approach: visitors are encouraged to participate in the experience, rather than passively consuming culture.

Interaction is essential to the success of Tiravanija’s works: “They come true when we touch them,” recalls guest curator Melissa Karmen Lee.

The three installations deployed at the PHI Foundation do justice to this desired relationship between the work and the visitor.

A music studio for everyone

At 465, rue Saint-Jean, the visitor finds himself facing a real studio entitled untitled 1996 (rehearsal studio no. 6) (2023) where guitars, a piano, a drums and a bass are left available to be played by everyone. During the entire duration of Rirkrit Tiravanija: PLAYit is possible to reserve a time slot with your music group to rehearse.

Otherwise, when the studio is free, amateur instrumentalists, who do not necessarily know each other, can improvise together, spontaneously. “Rirkrit [Tiravanija] creates conditions for us,” says Cheryl Sim, who recalls that the work challenges visitors and breaks down their inhibitions about performing in front of the public.

The installation is inspired by a real rehearsal space where Tiravanija and his friends played music together when they were younger. Several iterations of this venue have been presented in Japan, France and New York. In the PHI Foundation’s version, visitors who do not wish to play can listen to the recordings made during the various presentations of the installation. “The work untitled 1996 (rehearsal studio no. 6) is important,” adds curator Melissa Karmen Lee, who specializes in the social practice of art.

Sit at the bar

Upon leaving this rehearsal studio, the visitor can easily be fooled into imagining entering a bar rather than an artistic space. But when he sits down at the tables, watches television, orders a drink, he realizes that this bar with its retro look and subdued lights East the second installation of the exhibition, untitled 2017 (skip the bruising…) (2017). At the counter, an actor plays a bartender and can serve a free drink to the public on certain days.

The friendly and playful aspect of the place hides different layers of meaning. The facility is more than a place to meet and rest. It is the reconstruction of the setting of a bar from the film directed by Tiravanija who took over, frame by frame, the feature film Everyone else is called Ali (1974), by director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. To add yet another level of understanding, this Tiravanija film is shown on the television mounted on the wall of the room.

Installation untitled 2017 (skip the bruising…) invites visitors to become actors for a day, dancing and drinking, as if they were playing the bar patrons in the film.

For Rirkrit Tiravanija, the work goes beyond experiences of leisure, play, relaxation, theatricality and relaxation. It is also about making people think and “quietly understanding [ce qui se trame] behind,” suggests the artist, referring, among other things, to the racial tensions present in the original film.

Like Montreal nights

While each exhibition of the artist is different depending on where it is shown, the version presented at the PHI Foundation bears witness to the history of music in Montreal as well as the nightlife that accompanies it. It’s a very important aspect of the city’s identity, according to Commissioner Melissa Karmen Lee. For the Vancouverite who has already lived in the metropolis, the abundance of groups and music shows called underground, from metal to folk and jazz, constitutes the unique identity and energy of Montreal. “A strong memory is this culture of musical groups which is so present, where there are many subcultures of live music “, she specifies. This impression of Montreal was even at the heart of the first discussions about the exhibition. “It was a starting point between Cheryl [Sim] and I when we started talking about this exhibition and how we wanted to work with Rirkrit [Tiravanija] “, says Melissa Karmen Lee.

Interact with the virtual

The visit ends at 451, rue Saint-Jean by the work untitled 2023 (sitcom ghost) (2023), a very recent creation by the artist which uses augmented reality on the four floors of the building. In a completely empty space, a ghost, played by the Austrian actor Florian Troebinger, “haunts” the rooms. He addresses visitors directly through the screen of smartphones or iPads by reciting a monologue by French artist Philippe Parreno. As a reflection on Tiravanija’s work as a whole, the work invites us to think about the themes of death and disappearance, the idea of ​​preserving things or making “pad thai” disappear, a reference to the series of works which made the artist known. At the end of this journey, the installation appears both as a conclusion and an opening on the dematerialization of bodies, objects and art. It is again, for the visitor, about interacting with the project and finding their place in the discussion.

Who is Rirkrit Tiravanija?

• Contemporary artist born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He grew up in Thailand, Ethiopia and Canada and lives between Bangkok, Berlin and New York. The artist does not work in a studio to create works of art: he is nomadic and travels often.
• It is part of a social practice and comes from relational art. It develops projects that bring people together: its installations take the form of places to exchange and share meals, cook, read or play music.
• One of his best-known works is Pad Thai (1990), exhibited at the Paula Allen Gallery in New York. In addition to the American metropolis, his work has been presented in several major museums and galleries around the world and awarded several times.