COUCOU
BAZAR
An animated painting |
" Without
doubt one will reproach my production for putting itself outwith
catagorisation. Of course its status is ambiguous and that one can
wonder if it adresses itself to theatre lovers or to art lovers.
It has for an author a painter and not a dramatist or a choreographer,
painting is its only source. It is like a developement of painting,
an animation of it. It is like a painting which has ceased to be
simply an image to look at but one who takes on a real existance
and would welcome you in. " |
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Coucou Bazar
- an animated painting - directly taken from the cycle of the L'HOURLOUPE
by Jean Dubuffet, was performed for the first time in New York
from May to July 1973 at the time of the retrospective exhibition
of the artist at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum.
A second version
was produced in the following September as part of the Festival
d'Automne de Paris to accompany the retrospective in the
Galeries Nationales de Grand Palais, a repeat of the exhibition
held in New York.
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Finally, a
third and final version of the production was organised by FIAT
to be performed in Turin in 1978.
The performances
lasts an hour and consits of a series of paintings animated by
different actors/dancers. The music from the first two versions
(New York and Paris) was composed by the Turkish musician, Ilhan
Mimaroglu, whereas that of the version in Turin uses various recordings
and musical experiments by Jean Dubuffet.
The elements
that make up Coucou Bazar are, in one part, those that
Jean Dubuffet called the Praticables, and the other, the
Costumes.
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The
Praticables
The Praticables
are made from a panel of klégécell (a kind of wood),
layered in resin and painted with a coat of a vinyl acrylic. The
subjects are enlargements of drawings (characters, animals, decorative
elements etc) that the artist had prepared beforehand. The Praticables
were executed by his assistants between 1971 and 1973. Some of
the Praticables are mounted on wheels or animated by machinery.
Others, which are lighter, can be moved by animators concealed
behind. Dubuffet conceived 175 Praticables, of which only a fraction
play a part in the performances. The actual group gathered together
in the Jean Dubuffet Foundation, Périgny-Sur-Yerres, consists
of 98 Praticables.
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| The
Costumes |
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The costumes
worn by the actors are composed of various interchangeable elements:
masks, hats, robes, gloves and boots made in diverse materials:
painted rayon or coton, resin, latex, etc. Twenty different characters
exist to wear the costumes who slowly come to life on stage. All
the costumes are conserved and exposed at the Jean Dubuffet Foundation,
Périgny-Sur-Yerres. |
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The Cartoucherie de Vincennes |
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From
1971, faced with the volume of work for the project Coucou Bazar
(whose first praticables were realized in the rue Labrouste
studio), Jean Dubuffet sought studios which were larger and capable
to hold the preparations for his spectacle and also other work in
hand, in particular the projects for sculptures in stratified resin. |
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At the same
time, the agreement for an important retrospective exhibition,
which will take place in 1973 in New York (the Guggenheim Museum)
and Paris (Galeries Nationales de Grand Palais) is officially
given.
Aware of Jean Dubuffet's need the Centre National d'Art Contemporain
(CNAC), charged with the organisation of the exhibition in Paris,
offered the artist a large building, no longer used for its original
purpose, situated in the former Cartoucherie du Parc Floral de
Paris, Vincennes.
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Jean
Dubuffet en 1977 à l'atelier de Vincennes
devant les praticables de Coucou Bazar. |
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After an agreement
with the City of Paris, the proprietaire, the Ministère des Affaires
Culturelles graciously offered to put the building at Dubuffet's disposition
in their original state. Activity began in the studios in November 1971
after significant work to kit out the studio. The majority of elements
for Coucou Bazar were realized and stored there. The Cartoucherie
studio was vacated in 1979 and moved to the artist's studios in Périgny-Sur-Yerres.
For Further Interest
: Catalogue
des travaux, fascicule XXVII " Coucou Bazar "
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