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 LETTER NUMBER 2 FRED FOREST LAUNCHES A NEW PROPOSAL TO THE PRESIDENT OF CENTRE POMPIDOU
PHOTO FRED FOREST DANS L'EXPO " LES VIDES "( 25 février 2009)
LETTER NUMBER 2
Fred Forest launches a new proposal to the President of Centre Pompidou. The artist, never lacking ideas, hammers home a point and exacerbates once again the embarrassment of the directors of MNAM Centre Pompidou through a subtle and Machiavellian proposal to them: to acquire on of his “historic” works at the same supposed price plus a symbolic dollar ($100,001) as the recently purchased work This Situation by Tino Sehgal and to bequeath all of the funds to none other than the charity association of Food Shelters (“Restos de Coeur”).
-M r. Alain Seban, President of Centre Georges Pompidou,
On February 25, 2010, I did an improvised performance in the context of a symposium organized for the exhibition Vides: Une Retrospective (Spaces: A Retrospective) at the Centre Pompidou. Those present at this action included: two curators of the museum, Bernard Blistène and Laurent Lebon; Robert Barry; Françoise Bonardel; Bethan Huws; Roman Ondâk; and the curators of the exhibition, John Armleder, Mathieu Copeland, Gustav Metzger, Mai-Thu Perret and Clive Phillipot, and also a large public gathered in the room.
Thus, any number of people can account for the existence of this work, realized between 8:45 and 9:00pm under the eyes and applause of the public. I could also describe it here, but I hesitate in hopes of not altering its immaculate immateriality, nor to distort or deprive it of its commercial value. This is the case with the work This situation by Tino Sehgal; its intrinsic value is linked to the demands of the artist, which were not respected, and, thus, its financial value has been ruined on account of the receipt issued by the gallery during the transaction. The Centre Pompidou bought air as a commentator of the press said !
Even if the receipt was submitted in the form of an email, it automatically produced a piece of paper, printed for the sake of the accounting archives…. All the same, it is necessary to stop taking us citizens and the real lovers of contemporary art as perfect idiots.
To return to my improvised performance, I ask, before the law, the acquisition committee of MNAM to acquire this work under the vigilant guarantee of the two official curators present at the event, accompanied by Roger Rotmann, head of the debates at Centre Pompidou, who officiated the event.
The Marian Goodman Gallery offered to sell This Situation for $100,000. The work was since purchased by MNAM (which refuses to communicate the exact price despite its statute as a public institution….). Understanding that my work, named This Speculation, poses the advantage of being strictly conserved orally without any other traces, I offer it to the acquisition committee of the Centre Pompidou for a price of one additional dollar, that is for $100,001. The payment can be made by check directly to the charity food shelters (“Restos du Coeur”), which were founded according to the Association law of 1901 and which I designate as the sole recipients. This transaction shall not be tainted by the delivery of any receipt by the artist or another intermediary, and its validity shall be recognized and confirmed visually by the two curators present from MNAM. " This Speculation ", therefore, demonstrates its ethical and theoretical superiority as compared to " This Situation ", fully justifying its price of one dollar more…
We push aside the argument of Agnès Fierobe, Director of the Marian Goodman Gallery, who, brought to her wits end by a journalist of the Monde, finally responded, perhaps with some exasperation: “The bill is sent by email; it is never in a written form.” With this statement, we are plunged deeper into mounting confusion; whether voluntary or involuntary, she seems unaware that an email could be composed, even today, in a written form, and by failing to distinguish between writing and the mode of transmission, she commits a major error for the needs of a lost cause, a desperate attempt to justify the unjustifiable.
In consequence, Mr. President, I implore you to use your acquisition committee for acquiring " This Speculation " at the price and under the conditions that I proposed and to the benefit of the recipient that I designated.
Please accept my cordial salutations,
Fred Forest

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PRESS
http://artforum.com/news/week=201103
http://www.hebdo.ch/tino_sehgal_lartiste_qui_vend_du_vent_83814_.html
http://www.globartmag.com/2011/01/26/tino-segahl-opere-performance-centro-pompidou
http://lalignegenerale.typepad.com/press_citron/
http://stop.hu/articles/article.php?id=815134
http://www.artsgrantsfinder.com/tag/fred-forest/
http://onlineartdealerslondonengland.com/onlinedealers_artlondonengland.php
http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2011/01/15/un-achat-du-centre-pompidou-relance-le-debat-sur-le-secret-des-transactions_1466075_3246.html
http://www.liberation.fr/culture/01012312138-l-etat-face-au-marche-de-l-art-cinq-questions-au-ministre
http://www.webnetmuseum.org/php/en/php-news_en/show_news.php
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