Orlan
Encyclopedia
ORLAN is a French artist, born May 30, 1947 in Saint-Étienne
, Loire
. She lives and works in Los Angeles
, New York
, and Paris
. She was invited to be a scholar in residence at the Getty Research Institute
in Los Angeles, for the 2006-2007 academic year. She sits on the board of administrators for the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and is a professor at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Cergy.
Although ORLAN is best known for her work with plastic surgery
in the early to mid nineties, she has not limited her work to a particular medium.
From 1965 to 1983, she performed the "MesuRages", in which she would use her own body as a measuring instrument, called the "Orlan-body". In this performance, she would measure how many people could fit within a given architectural space, using her "Orlan-body" as a unit of measurement.
In the "MesuRages," and in later work, ORLAN made great use of her "Trousseau
".
From 1964 to 1966, ORLAN made a series of photographic works known as the "Vintages." She destroyed the original negatives, and only one copy of each photograph remains. In this series, she posed naked in various yoga-like positions. One of the most famous pictures of this series is "ORLAN accouche d'elle m'aime."
From 1967 to 1975, she undertook a new series, the "Tableaux Vivants."
In 1977, her performance "The Artist’s Kiss" (Le baiser de l'artiste), during the FIAC in Paris, became a huge scandal. Outside the Grand Palais, a life-size photo of her torso was turned into a slot machine. After inserting a coin, one could see it descending to the groin, and then was awarded a kiss from the artist, who stood on a pedestal behind it.
In 1978, she created "Documentary Study: The Head of Medusa," which took place at the Museum Ludwig, Aachen. The motto of the performance was Freud’s quotation on the Head of Medusa: "at the sight of the vulva, even the devil runs away.” The artist displayed her sexual organs under a magnifying glass during menstruation.
In 1978, she founded the International Symposium of Performance in Lyon.
In 1982, she created the first online magazine of contemporary art, Art-Accès-Revue, on France's precursor to the Internet, the Minitel
.
in Paris and the Sandra Gehring Gallery in New York. Orlan's goal in these surgeries is to acquire the ideal of female beauty as depicted by male artists. When the surgeries are complete, she will have the chin of Botticelli’s Venus
, the nose of Jean-Léon Gérôme
's Psyche, the lips of François Boucher
’s Europa
, the eyes of Diana
(as depicted in a sixteenth-century French School of Fontainebleu painting), and the forehead of Leonardo da Vinci
’s Mona Lisa
. Orlan picked these characters “not for the canons of beauty they represent… but rather on account of the stories associated with them." Orlan chose Diana, because she is inferior to the gods and men, but is leader of the goddesses and women; Mona Lisa, because of the standard of beauty, or anti-beauty, that she represents; Psyche, because of the fragility and vulnerability within her soul; Venus, for carnal beauty; and Europa, for her adventurous outlook on the future.
Many feminists have called ORLAN an anti-feminist due to her goals and methods. Instead of condemning cosmetic surgery, she embraces it; instead of rejecting the masculine, she incorporates it; and instead of limiting her identity, she defines it as “nomadic, mutant, shifting, differing.” Orlan has stated: “my work is a struggle against the innate, the inexorable, the programmed, Nature, DNA (which is our direct rival as far as artists of representation are concerned), and God!”
"I can observe my own body cut open, without suffering!... I see myself all the way down to my entrails; a new mirror stage... I can see to the heart of my lover; his splendid design has nothing to do with sickly sentimentalities... Darling, I love your spleen; I love your liver; I adore your pancreas, and the line of your femur excites me." (from Carnal Art manifesto)
"Sainte Orlan" came from a character that I created for "Le baiser de l'artiste" from a text called "Facing a society of mothers and merchants." The first line of this text was: “At the bottom of the cross were two women, Maria and Maria Magdalena.” These are two inevitable stereotypes of women that are hard to avoid: the mother and the prostitute. In “Le baiser de l'artiste” there were two faces. One was Saint Orlan, a cutout picture of me dressed as Madonna glued onto wood. One could buy a five francs church candle and I was sitting on the other side behind the mock-up of the vending machine. One could buy a French kiss from me for the same amount of money one could buy a candle. The idea was to play on the ambivalence of the woman figure and the desire of both men and women towards those biblical and social stereotypes. Being showcased in the Paris International Contemporary Art Fair, the artwork was somehow both an installation and a performance," said Orlan, in her interview with Acne Paper.
In 2001, she orchestrated a series of filmic posters, "Le Plan du Film", with various artists and writers. The posters affirm the existence of films which do not actually exist. The posters question the notions of character and narrative reflected in the social reality of individual roles and stories.
In 2007, ORLAN collaborated with the Symbiotica laboratory in Australia, resulting in the bio-art installation "The Harlequin's Coat".
Part of her on-going work includes "Suture/Hybridize/Recycle", a generative and collaborative series of clothing made from ORLAN's wardrobe and focusing on suture: the deconstruction of past clothing reconstructed into new clothing that highlights the sutures.
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne is a city in eastern central France. It is located in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Rhône-Alpes region, along the trunk road that connects Toulouse with Lyon...
, Loire
Loire
Loire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when after just 3½ years the young Rhône-et-Loire department was split into two. This was a response to counter-Revolutionary activities in Lyon...
. She lives and works in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. She was invited to be a scholar in residence at the Getty Research Institute
Getty Research Institute
The Getty Research Institute , located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts". A program of the J...
in Los Angeles, for the 2006-2007 academic year. She sits on the board of administrators for the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and is a professor at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Cergy.
Although ORLAN is best known for her work with plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
in the early to mid nineties, she has not limited her work to a particular medium.
Early phases
In 1964, while in her home town of Saint-Étienne, she started the "Marches au ralenti" ("Slow motion walks"), in which she would walk as slowly as possible between two central parts of the city.From 1965 to 1983, she performed the "MesuRages", in which she would use her own body as a measuring instrument, called the "Orlan-body". In this performance, she would measure how many people could fit within a given architectural space, using her "Orlan-body" as a unit of measurement.
In the "MesuRages," and in later work, ORLAN made great use of her "Trousseau
Trousseau
Trousseau may refer to:*A dowry*The outfit of a bride, including the wedding dress or similar clothing*A name for the Bastardo grape in some regions*A white mutation of the Trousseau grape, known as Trousseau Gris...
".
From 1964 to 1966, ORLAN made a series of photographic works known as the "Vintages." She destroyed the original negatives, and only one copy of each photograph remains. In this series, she posed naked in various yoga-like positions. One of the most famous pictures of this series is "ORLAN accouche d'elle m'aime."
From 1967 to 1975, she undertook a new series, the "Tableaux Vivants."
In 1977, her performance "The Artist’s Kiss" (Le baiser de l'artiste), during the FIAC in Paris, became a huge scandal. Outside the Grand Palais, a life-size photo of her torso was turned into a slot machine. After inserting a coin, one could see it descending to the groin, and then was awarded a kiss from the artist, who stood on a pedestal behind it.
In 1978, she created "Documentary Study: The Head of Medusa," which took place at the Museum Ludwig, Aachen. The motto of the performance was Freud’s quotation on the Head of Medusa: "at the sight of the vulva, even the devil runs away.” The artist displayed her sexual organs under a magnifying glass during menstruation.
In 1978, she founded the International Symposium of Performance in Lyon.
In 1982, she created the first online magazine of contemporary art, Art-Accès-Revue, on France's precursor to the Internet, the Minitel
Minitel
The Minitel is a Videotex online service accessible through the telephone lines, and is considered one of the world's most successful pre-World Wide Web online services. It was launched in France in 1982 by the PTT...
.
The Reincarnation of Saint-Orlan
The Reincarnation of Saint-Orlan, a new project that started in 1990, involves a series of plastic surgeries through which the artist transformed herself into elements from famous paintings and sculptures of women. As a part of her 'Carnal Art' manifesto, these works were filmed and broadcast in institutions throughout the world, such as the Centre Georges PompidouCentre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
in Paris and the Sandra Gehring Gallery in New York. Orlan's goal in these surgeries is to acquire the ideal of female beauty as depicted by male artists. When the surgeries are complete, she will have the chin of Botticelli’s Venus
The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)
The Birth of Venus is a painting by Sandro Botticelli. It depicts the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as a fully grown woman, arriving at the sea-shore...
, the nose of Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax.-Life:Jean-Léon Gérôme was born...
's Psyche, the lips of François Boucher
François Boucher
François Boucher was a French painter, a proponent of Rococo taste, known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories representing the arts or pastoral occupations, intended as a sort of two-dimensional furniture...
’s Europa
Europa (mythology)
In Greek mythology Europa was a Phoenician woman of high lineage, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. The name Europa occurs in Hesiod's long list of daughters of primordial Oceanus and Tethys...
, the eyes of Diana
Diana (mythology)
In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...
(as depicted in a sixteenth-century French School of Fontainebleu painting), and the forehead of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
’s Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa is a portrait by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is a painting in oil on a poplar panel, completed circa 1503–1519...
. Orlan picked these characters “not for the canons of beauty they represent… but rather on account of the stories associated with them." Orlan chose Diana, because she is inferior to the gods and men, but is leader of the goddesses and women; Mona Lisa, because of the standard of beauty, or anti-beauty, that she represents; Psyche, because of the fragility and vulnerability within her soul; Venus, for carnal beauty; and Europa, for her adventurous outlook on the future.
Many feminists have called ORLAN an anti-feminist due to her goals and methods. Instead of condemning cosmetic surgery, she embraces it; instead of rejecting the masculine, she incorporates it; and instead of limiting her identity, she defines it as “nomadic, mutant, shifting, differing.” Orlan has stated: “my work is a struggle against the innate, the inexorable, the programmed, Nature, DNA (which is our direct rival as far as artists of representation are concerned), and God!”
"I can observe my own body cut open, without suffering!... I see myself all the way down to my entrails; a new mirror stage... I can see to the heart of my lover; his splendid design has nothing to do with sickly sentimentalities... Darling, I love your spleen; I love your liver; I adore your pancreas, and the line of your femur excites me." (from Carnal Art manifesto)
"Sainte Orlan" came from a character that I created for "Le baiser de l'artiste" from a text called "Facing a society of mothers and merchants." The first line of this text was: “At the bottom of the cross were two women, Maria and Maria Magdalena.” These are two inevitable stereotypes of women that are hard to avoid: the mother and the prostitute. In “Le baiser de l'artiste” there were two faces. One was Saint Orlan, a cutout picture of me dressed as Madonna glued onto wood. One could buy a five francs church candle and I was sitting on the other side behind the mock-up of the vending machine. One could buy a French kiss from me for the same amount of money one could buy a candle. The idea was to play on the ambivalence of the woman figure and the desire of both men and women towards those biblical and social stereotypes. Being showcased in the Paris International Contemporary Art Fair, the artwork was somehow both an installation and a performance," said Orlan, in her interview with Acne Paper.
Recent works
Since 1994, ORLAN has been creating a digital photographic series titled "Self-Hybridizations," where her face merges with past facial representations (masks, sculptures, paintings) of non-western civilizations. So far, three have been completed: Pre-Columbian, American-Indian and African.In 2001, she orchestrated a series of filmic posters, "Le Plan du Film", with various artists and writers. The posters affirm the existence of films which do not actually exist. The posters question the notions of character and narrative reflected in the social reality of individual roles and stories.
In 2007, ORLAN collaborated with the Symbiotica laboratory in Australia, resulting in the bio-art installation "The Harlequin's Coat".
Part of her on-going work includes "Suture/Hybridize/Recycle", a generative and collaborative series of clothing made from ORLAN's wardrobe and focusing on suture: the deconstruction of past clothing reconstructed into new clothing that highlights the sutures.
Exhibitions (2000s)
2011- Nantes Fine Art Museum, Chapelle de l’Oratoire, ORLAN, curators Blandine Chavanne and Alice Fleury, Nantes, France
- Pouchkine Museum, Dior, curators Florence Müller and Jacques Ranc, Moscow, Russia
2010
- Project room / La Cambre / Ecole Supérieure des Arts Visuels, ORLAN Remix, Est-ce que vous êtes Belges? Ou les draps-peaux hybridés, organizer Johan Muyle, Brussels, Belgium
- Sheldon Museum of Art, Bodies, Technology, Fashion, curator Daniel J. Veneciano, Lincoln (Nebraska), USA
- State Museum of Centemporary Art of Thessaloniki, Isole Mai Trovate/Islands Never Found, curators Lorand Heygi and Katerina Koskina, Thessaloniki, Greece
- Guy Pieters Gallery, Coups de Coeur, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
- Musée Bourdelle, En mai fais ce qu’il te plaît !, curator Juliette Lafon, Paris, France
2009
- São Paulo Museum of Art, Year of France in Brazil, Orlan+Campana+Neon, oraganizer Lisbeth Rebollo, São Paulo, Brazil
- Abbey of Maubuisson, Unions Mixtes, Mariages Libres et Noces Barbares, organizer Caroline Coll, Maubuisson, France
- Grand Palais, La Force de l’art, organizers Jean-Louis Froment, Jean-Yves Jouannais, Didier Ottinger, Paris, France
- Centre Georges Pompidou, elles@centrepompidou, organizer Camille Morineau, co-organizers Quentin Bajac, Cécile Debray, Valérie Guillaume and Emma Lavigne, Paris, France
- Casino LuxembourgCasino LuxembourgThe Casino Luxembourg is currently a forum for contemporary art which was adapted and renovated in 1995 to fit its new role of housing temporary exhibitions of Luxembourg art...
, SK-interfaces, Exploring Borders in Art, Technology and Society, organizer Jens Hauser, Luxembourg - Palazzo Franchetti, Glass Stress, organizer Laura Mattioli Rossi, Venice, Italy.
- Sungkok Art Museum, Masks, organizer Alain Sayag, Seoul, Korea.
- FIAC, Michel Rein Gallery, Paris, France
2008
- Espacio Artes Visuales, Suture Hybridization-recycling, in collaboration with Davidelfin, oragnizers Isabel Tejeda, Murcia, Espagne
- Michel Rein Gallery, Self-hybridation, American-Indians, Paris, France
- The Tallinn Art Hall, Orlan: Post identity strategies, organizers Eugenio Viola, Reet Varblane, Tallinn, Estonia
- The Vancouver Art Gallery, “Wack!” Art and the feminist revolution, organizer Connie Butler, Vancouver, Canada
- Chapel of the National School of Fine Arts, Académia who are you? organizer Axel Vervoordt, Paris, France
- Fact, Sk-Interfaces, organizer Jens Hauser, Liverpool, UK
- Museu Berardo, BESart – Colecçao Banco Espirito Santo, Lisbon, Portugal
2007
- Getty Research Institute, Skaï and Sky and Video, organizer Sabine Schlosser, Los Angeles, USA
- Museum of Modern Art of Saint-Etienne, The Narrative, organizers Lorand Hegyi and Viola Eugenio, Saint Etienne, France
- Beap 07, Biennale of Electronic Arts Perth Stillness, Perth, Australia
- KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Into Me / Out of Me, organizer Klaus Biesenbach, Berlin, Germany
- Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Diagnostic Art – Medicine in Contemporary Art, organizer Burkhard Leismann, Ahlen, Germany
- MOCA Geffen Los Angeles, Wack!, Art and the Feminist Revolution, organizer Connie Butler, Los Angeles, USA
- Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 45 Años de Arte y Feminismo, Bilbao, Spain
- Osaka National Art Museum, Skin of / in Contemporary Art, organizer Yukihiro Hiroyoshi, Osaka, Japan
- Palazzo Fortuny, Artempo, organizers Jean-Hubert Martin and Tijs Visser, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
2006
- Grand Palais, La Force de l'Art, organizer Eric Troncy, Paris, France
- Musée des Arts Modestes de Sète, Bang Bang, organizer Hervé di Rosa, Sète, France
- Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse Number 1, Transimages 4, organizer Anne-Marie Morice, Yokohama, Japan
- PS1, Into Me / Out of Me, organizer Klaus Biesenbach, New York, USA
2005
- Palais de TokyoPalais de TokyoThe Palais de Tokyo is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, near the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs the City of Paris and hosts the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris...
, Luminous Room, with the architect Philippe Chiambaretta, organizers Marc Sanchez and Jérôme Sans, Paris, France - Museum if Fine Arts of Chartres, Primitive Body Digital Body, Chartres, France
- Stephan Stux Gallery, ORLAN, Digital Photographs and Sculptures, Refiguration / Self-Hybridization : The Pre-Columbian and African Series, New York, USA
- Artcurial, Face-to-face, organizer Isabelle de Montfumat, Paris, France
- Kunsthalle & Kunstforum Wien, Superstars, organizer Thomas Miessgang, Vienna, Austria
- Mildred Kemper Art Museum, Inside Out Loud : Visualizing Women’s Health, organizer Janine Mileaf, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
- Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lausanne, Body Extensions, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Museum of Fine Arts of Buenos Aires, Projet Cone Sud, organizers Bernard Goy and Gusto Pastor Mellado, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- National Gallery of Victoria, Mirror Mirror : Reflections on Beauty, Melbourne, Australia
2004
- Centre de Création Contemporaine (CCC), ORLAN, 1993, organizer Alain Julien-Laferrière, Tours, France
- Centre National de la Photographie (CNP), ORLAN 1964–2004… Méthodes de l’artiste, retrospective exhibition, organizers Régis Durand and Claire Guézengar, with a monograph published by Flammarion, Paris, France
- Moscow House of Photography, ORLAN, 2003–2004, organizer Olga Svlibova, retrospective exhibition conjointly held with the Photobiennale 2004, Moscow, Russia
- UNESCO, In Movement UNESCO Salutes Women Video Artists of the World, organizer Kim Airyung, Paris, France
- ZKM, Media Art Net, organizer Peter Weibel, Karlsruhe, Allemagne
2003
- AFAA, Le Plan du film, Paris, France
- FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Éléments favoris, retrospective, organizer Jean-François Taddei, Carquefou, Nantes, France
- Michel Rein Gallery, Tricéphale, photographies et installation vidéo, Paris, France.
- Galerie der HGB, Academy of Visual Arts, Bellissima, Leipzig, Germany
- Galleria d’Arte Moderna, La Creazione ansiosa, da Picasso a Bacon, Verona, Italy
- Hungarian Photography House, La Fabrication du réel, Budapest, Hungary
- Musée de l’Élysée (Musée de la Photographie), Face, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Museum of Fine Arts of Québec, Doublures, Quebec, Canada.
2002
- Centro de Fotografía of the Université of Salamanca, Retrospective 1964-2001, organizer Olga Guinot, Palace Abrantès and the church of Segonda Palace, Salamanca, Spain
- FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Éléments favoris, retrospective, organizer Jean-François Taddei, Carquefou, Nantes, France
- Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo (Artium), ORLAN 1964–2001, organizer Juan Guardiola, Vitoria, Espagne
- Hall Central of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
- The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, Dangerous Beauty, New York, USA
- Kunsthalle Wien, Living Pictures, Vienna, Austria
2001
- Fondation Cartier, Le Plan du film, séquence 2, Soirées Nomades, Paris, France
- Sejul Gallery, ORLAN, Self-hybridations pre-colombians, Seoul, Korea
- Museum voor Modern Art, Between Earth and Heaven, New Classical Movements in Art Today, organizer W. Van den Bussche, Ostende, Belgium
- The Rencontres d’Arles Photography Festival, Abbey of Montmajour, organizer Alain Sayag, Arles, France
- Borusan Foundation, Les Voluptés, organizer Elga Wimmer, Istanbul, Turkey
- Festival E-Phos 2001, The Hybrid Body and the Monster, Athens, Greece
- Musée d’Art Contemporain d’Anvers, Mutilate Mode and Body Art 2001: Landed/Geland, Anvers, Belgium
2000
- Galllery of the School of Fine Arts of Marseille, ORLAN, triomphe du baroque, organizer Michel Enrici, Marseille, France
- Australian Museum, Body Art – adorned and transformed exhibition, Sydney, Australia
- Contemporary Art Center of Auvers-sur-Oise, L’Invention des femmes, organizer Marie-Hélène Dumas, Auvers-sur-Oise, France
- Centre Georges Pompidou, La Grâce (with Michel Maffesoli), Revue Parlée, Paris, France
- Deste Foundation, organizer Daniel Abadie, Athens, Greece
External links
- ORLAN Official Website
- ORLAN interview. ACNE PAPER ISSUE 9 (english)
- Kubilay Akman, "ORLAN and the Work of Art in the Age of Hyper-mechanical Organic Reproduction". IJBS, Volume 3, Number 1 (January 2006).
- Retrospective Exhibition from 05/25/07 to 09/16/07 at the Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Etienne
- Pompidou Centre, exhibition: elles@centrepompidou http://elles.centrepompidou.fr/blog/?p=953 2010.