Frieze Projects: Laure Prouvost

Date
14 October 2011

For the final part of our features on the Frieze Projects, we chat to Laure Prouvost, whose intriguingly baffling signs have been mentally misdirecting visitors to the fair since it opened on Thursday. We caught up with the French artist to try and get to the bottom of it all.

The signs were created very recently in response to the space and the way people interacted with it. One of them reads: “Ideally in this room would be a busy African market,” while another proclaims: “The fifth floor is wonderful.” (There is no fifth floor).

Hi Laure, tell us in your own words what you’ve got planned for the Frieze Projects….

We are making signs to go around the fair.

How important is an element of uncertainty in your work? Do you like to bamboozle people?

I rarely know what I’m going to achieve before starting something – the context can often direct a piece so much. I like the idea of losing control of what’s produced so it exists in the viewer’s head, not only mine.

These words on the signs makes everyone visualise something different from each other. Words can be very open to different interpretations and more suggestive than a visual piece. I like the fact that the image is really created in the viewer’s mind. Or a sound piece: “Ideally now there would be thunderstorm and lightning reading this sign.”

Do you think installations struggle to strike a chord outside the very art-literate world?

I think it depends on which installation it is, and which artist and work. Some more complex works need time and digging, others are more straightforward and instant, but they all have a purpose. This piece of mine is pretty direct and self explanatory, so it doesn’t need too many words said about it…

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

Rob joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in July 2011 before becoming Editor-in-Chief and working across all editorial projects including itsnicethat.com, Printed Pages, Here and Nicer Tuesdays. Rob left It’s Nice That in June 2015.

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