AGATHE SIMON
Conti & Journiac
A Creative Friendship at the Saint-Charles Center
Collective performance at the Michel Journiac Gallery
& videoperformance
HD | stereo | 36’20 | 2023
© Agathe Simon
To watch the videoperformance,
please reach us for credential.
On the occasion of Journiac Days 2023, this event celebrates the 30th anniversary of the meeting between the French visual artist Michel Journiac (1935-1995) and the Franco-Argentine novelist Gabriela Conti (1974-2010) – who does not exist. This collective performance is part of the The Conti Project multimedia cycle, created as a tribute to this imaginary writer. Thanks to many pieces and archives, Agathe Simon looks back on the fruitful and complex ties – both friendly and artistic – that developed between the two artists, at the time when the exhibition space of the Centre Saint-Charles (Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University) – the future Michel Journiac Gallery – was created.
This conference, taking place in this very gallery, is suddenly disrupted by students who dispute the existence of Gabriela Conti, Agathe Simon, and even Michel Journiac. This collective performance questions the constitution of myths and the colonization of the imaginary.
The Conti Project is an immersive multimedia cycle in homage to the famous French-Argentine novelist Gabriela Conti (1974-2010) – who does not exist. Since 2013, with the support of various institutional partners, Agathe Simon has been unfolding the Gabriela Conti fiction through solo and collective performances, a documentary directed in Antarctica, a video triptych filmed in the Arctic, an installation of 120 archives and documents, novels and travel stories, film photographs, a radio play on France Culture and two 5.1 sound installations.
Performance: Agathe Simon, with the participation of Lou Calmette, Lilas Djeddou, Marin Lacroix, Anaïs Pedro, Grace Rabet, and Karen Raharisoa Readings: Karen Raharisoa Image & sound: Marin Lacroix Postproduction: Agathe Simon