Paris, London, North-east England, Spring 1991
"Criticism's legitimacy lies in its capacity to convince its readers that what they have seen is something other than what they first believed."
Juan V. Aliaga, Critic, Valencia. Critics' Night Out, 16 March, 1991
Seasonally, in Paris, galleries in each particular district hold a common official opening-day. This involves a commando-style training in art criticism consisting of a breathless sprint around up to eighteen different galleries in the space of three or four hours, sparkling with obligatory bonhomie. The most bonhomme amongst the crowd are the Belgian critics and publishers: low key, humorous and ravenously gourmand. They are the most astute critics of these events.
At present the Belgians are offering Paris some of its most effective minimalist art. Among this the video work of Eric Duyckaerts hopefully may be seen in Australia at the Sydney Video Festival. Dry-as-dry in wit, Duyckaerts ' work is related to that of other video, dance and theatre artists involved in the Revue Eclair group. In his Magister and Hegel ou La Vie en Rose Duyckaerts focuses on the typical stringy French intellectual (Henri Levy-Strauss): tall, dark, intense, dressed in loose black pants and white shirt, discoursing negligently through foggy Gaullois. By common consensus, this French intelligentsia with its peep-toed, woven, school-boy sandals is on its way out-made redundant since the French have declared themselves to be content.
Duyckaerts synchronized his videos with an installation by Jean-Luc Vilmouth consisting of a large railway clock and a hammer. This art-work appeared on the wall both in Duyckaerts ' videos and on the wall of the small private flat near the Hotel de Ville where it was viewed. It is possible to focus... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline