Yann Chateigné
Lecture at Expodium, Utrecht (NL) for the first exhibition of There is a love affair between the white cube and the black square.
July 2006

"It is this, it is this" – "We have had that before!"
The Bellman indignantly said.
And the Baker replied "Let me say it once more.
It is this, it is this that I dread!"

The Ultramoderne exists ab aeterno ! Unlike the realist or naturalist, the Ultraist does not reject the multi-cycles of the infinite. He does not « make » history in order to impress those who believe in one history.

WHATEVER I INTENDED. I SENT YOU FLOWERS. YOU WANTED CHOCOLATE INSTEAD. THE FLOWERS OF ROMANCE

“Art must claw the neck of the bourgeois as the lion does with the horse”, says German artist Dieter Hackern, reprising an old, old tune. Absolutely. Absolutely absolutely absolutely.

En effet, la magie n’a de sens que pour restaurer ou inventer une continuité perdue, pour instaurer de l’être, susciter un événement dans une absence, une faille de l’expérience ou du sens. Il s’agit de pouvoir transformer le cours du monde, il s’agit toujours de suppléer aux failles du monde, en constituant des modèles parallèles qui viennent le compléter.

But my obsession with the past is like a kid fight
Few things are related to the old times
When we didn’t believe in magic and we didn’t die
This time the words that you should follow went you’re inside
We want you inside
Because you’re inside

1. Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits), 1876
2. Robert Smithson, Ultramoderne, 1967.
3. Steven Parrino, The NO TEXTS, 1979-2003.
4. Donald Barthelme, On the Level of Desire, 1987.
5. Xavier Papaïs, Trois formules sur la magie, 2003.
6. Animal Collective, Peace Bone, 2005