Group show → As the veneer of democracy starts to fade

In May, Derouillon presents ‘‘As the veneer of democracy starts to fade’’ a new group exhibition curated by Clément Caballero including Emmanuel Beguinot, Nikita Gale, Keta Gavasheli, Brett Ginsbrug, Gordon Matta-Clark, Erwan Sene, Leyla Yenirce. The show will gather new productions alongside historical works—and for several of the artists included, a first in a Parisian gallery.

“As the veneer of democracy starts to fade” takes its title from Mark Stewart’s album punk noise (1985), which was received at the time as an insurrectionary sound documentary, highlighting the profound capitalist and militaro-security transformations of British urban areas.

Even today, driven by political and capitalist logics, power expands as it is heard, resonating through urban transformations and the implementation of population-control systems by means of synesthetic devices—ultrasonic cannons, the use of loudspeakers, the hum of ventilation systems, low-altitude flights of subsonic aircraft.

Urban zones thus make sound and noise two central agents of our experience of place, modulating affective tonality and altering perceptual atmospheres. In this way, the exhibition ‘‘As the veneer of democracy starts to fade’’ shows how the vibratory flux of territories shapes the materiality of bodies and influences sonic perception. The exhibition reveals the continuity between urban mutations, systems of power, and our sensory experience of territory.

Clément Caballero

‘‘As the veneer of democracy starts to fade
Some say the internment camp’s already built
It was one of those ambiguous days of rising tension
I remember drunks saying it could never happen here
As the more subtle forms of coercion proved ineffective
More and more sophisticated surveillance techniques are introduced’’

Mark Stewart, ‘‘As the veneer of democracy starts to fade’’ 1985

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The gallery would like to extend a special thank you to the galleries LC Queisser, Capitain Petzel, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Emalin, Thomas Schulte and the Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark.