“Foreigners Everywhere”—seen in neon letters glowing in sixty languages and countless colors in the shipyard hall at the Arsenale—was the theme of the last Venice Biennale. The work is by Claire Fontaine, the Paris conceptual art duo founded in 2004 by Fulvia Carnevale and James Thornhill. It is based on an installation from 2004 that symbolizes the critical stance of the duo, which returns time and again to issues of alienation and migration. The choice of the typical name Claire Fontaine was a deliberate appropriation: It refers to both the French stationery manufacturer that provides a brand image behind which the collective’s identity disappears, and the French word for “fountain” (fontaine), which is also a revolutionary ready-made by Marcel Duchamp. The ambiguous play with appropriation and emptying forms the foundation of the collective’s mode of working and conviction that today’s production conditions create “ready-made artists.”

In its works Claire Fontaine employs everyday objects that can be read as art-historical references as well as concise social and ideological commentaries. By decontextualizing and transforming these objects into something “foreign,” the collective reveals hidden layers of meaning that take on a new urgency in the exhibition space. Neon signs, sculpture, films, texts, and performative elements address topics such as ownership, consumerism, and political disillusionment. While the formal reduction is reminiscent of Minimalism, content-related explosiveness and political directness stand in the tradition of artists such as Hans Haacke and Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Over the past few years, the Kunst Museum Winterthur has repeatedly shown exhibitions that focus on everyday objects in the art world. Claire Fontaine continues this exploration and expands the critical potential of conceptual strategies in sculpture and installation.

Curated by Lynn Kost