Martha Wilson (artist) in conversation with Sylvie Boulanger (curator, editor and researcher) and Muriel Enjalran (curator and Director of the FRAC Sud, Marseille), on the occasion of her exhibition Invisible - works on aging (1972-2022) at FRAC Sud - Cité de l’Art Contemporain in Marseille and the 10th Collector’s edition box for the Laughing Cow by Martha Wilson produced by Lab’Bel.

THURSDAY 19TH OCTOBER, 11AM

«Public Expectations of Women»

On the occasion of the major monographic exhibition dedicated to Martha Wilson by the Frac Sud-Cité de l’art contemporain in Marseille and the Paris International launch of the new “Vache qui rit collector’s box” she designed for the Lab’Bel Foundation, Martha Wilson, performance artist and pioneer of feminist commitments in art, looks back at the issues that have guided her work for almost fifty years. With Muriel Enjalran, director and curator of her Marseille exhibition, and Sylvie Boulanger, guest curator of the tenth Collector’s Edition, Martha Wilson will explore the themes of beauty and ageism to evoke the social and political position of women in our Western societies.

MARTHA WILSON
Artist

In 1970, Martha Wilson was studying for a M.A in English Literature at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, when she discovered that across the street, at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, the Conceptual artists were making visual art out of language. She became an artist in 1971, creating performance art works that manifested as photo/text pieces, or as videotapes. Now she has been a multimedia artist for 50 years, choosing the medium that is appropriate to the concept of the work; for example, for “Makeover: Melania,” a video using software developed by artist Nancy Burson, Martha’s face transforms into the face of Melania Trump.

MURIEL ENJALRAN
Director, FRAC Sud, Marseille

Muriel Enjalran is the Director of the Frac Sud – Cité de l’art contemporain in Marseille. She worked as an independent art critic and a curator in France and abroad. Her research addresses artists’ engagement with public space issue, particularly exploring artistic activism in the field of history, and the possibilities of visual sociology. She was general secretary and project coordinator of d.c.a, the French association for the Development of Art Centers from 2006 to 2015. Muriel Enjalran was then the director of the CRP/ Centre régional de la photographie in Douchy-les-Mines, running one of the first art centers in France to be awarded the “Contemporary art center of national interest” label. In addition to collaborating with Independent Curators International (ICI) in New York since 2012, she is also a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). In 2015, she was awarded a curatorial residency at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago to carry out research into socially engaged artistic practices. Interested in the relationships between art and sport, she joined the Organization Expert Committee for the cultural program for The 2024 Summer Olympics in 2020. She is currently preparing a major exhibition entitled “Olympiques” in three venues: at the Frac Sud, at the [mac] musée d’art contemporain of Marseille and at the Mucem, with art critic and historian Jean-Marc Huitorel, to open in April 2024.

SYLVIE BOULANGER
Curator, editor and researcher

Sylvie Boulanger is a curator, an editor and a researcher. She has curated more than 150 exhibitions in many different countries and has edited more than a hundred publications.
Director of the center for contemporary art cneai= from its creation until 2022, she combined, as of 1997, exhibitions with the programming of performances, publications, research opportunities. Through this model, she developed cultural programming that enabled artists and their projects to touch upon new forms, spaces and audiences.
She has also co-founded and directed the “M.A.D Multiple Art Days” with Michael Woolworth, and since 2022, she has run, with Mary-Anne de la Palme, the new residency program and festival “F’A’A” (Filming Art and Architecture).
Acting as a consultant and expert in the art sector, she has worked with several foundations and private collections, including the Fiminco Foundation, the Copy-Art Collection and Lab’Bel.