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There exists a blank in Mircea Cantor’s works. He plays with the uncertainty of the delicate balance between life and death, safety and danger, falling or standing.

Cantor (1977, Romania) who won the 2011 Marcel Duchamp prize creates pieces that draw on the metaphysical, the reinterpretable poetic of delicate moments that cause you to gasp, cringe or catch your breath with fear. His works are molded in a subtle cast of cultural conducts, however, no clear reference to the past is ever made.

With four works in one large room Cantor’s exhibition in the Centre Pompidou resembles more of a big gallery exhibit than an actual museum show; a scale that magnifies the strength of the pieces displayed.

The show opens with one of the two video works in the show titled Wind Orchestra (2012), showing a young boy placing large Japanese butcher knifes behind one another on the back of their handle. He blows against them as if they are candles and the knifes fall down. Initially struck by a parental fear of the potential danger in seeing a young child playing with large, violent objects, the loop of the film creates a calmness in realizing that power is relative; these ultimate weapons can be demolished by the single breath of a small child.

Next to the video a large white wall reads the words "DON’T JUDGE, FILTER SHOOT". It marks one of Cantor’s performances in which the artist lit fuses to form these words. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (2012) picks up on these traces of fire. In this second video piece a young Asian woman stands amidst a group of people, beggars they seem, kneeled on the floor, bend over facing down and one arm extended to the middle of the circle with their palm upwards. The woman drapes a fuse over their hands, connecting them with one another and lights the fuse on fire. The flame travels from hand to hand while the camera trails its spark consuming the fuse with increasing speed that is emphasized by the crescendo beating of a simandre, a wooden instrument used for public worship. The stark contrast between the young, mysterious woman and the devoted men indicates a hope for change but also refers to the inevitability of death.

In the other two other pieces, Don’t judge, filter, shoot (2012) and Epic Fountain (2012) the work too balances form, matter and ideas that are catapulted in the realm of uncertainty. So it turns out the blank is very deliberate. However, it is not prescriptive and easily folds into a game of artistic abstractions, engaging in speculative reason. It folds into that faculty of mind that loves to build and extend its constructions as far as the mind can go: speculative reason opening to a domain of the mind without limit.


Mircea Cantor
Centre Pompidou
Prix Marcel Duchamp 2011
October 3 2012 – January 7 2013

Judith Vrancken

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