“After the announcement of museums not reopening, I decided to continue the exhibition L’Art est nécessaire.”

Presentation of the exhibition by Thomas Hirschhorn:

“ART IS NECESSARY! ART IS NECESSARY TO ME! ART CAN BE NECESSARY TO US! ART CAN BE NECESSARY TO YOU!

I have set up this small exhibition in front of my studio in Aubervilliers. During the ‘re-confinement,’ I will set up the exhibition in the morning and dismantle it in the evening every day. This exhibition is a statement against the closure of museums, art centers, and art galleries, against the prohibition of access to Art, and thus against the declaration that Art is non-essential.

Because for me, Art is as necessary as eating, drinking, sleeping. I do not understand why museums, galleries, and art centers must be closed. Here, I exhibit my own work due to the lack of exhibitions open to the public because, during this new closure of museums, galleries, and art centers, it is crucial to maintain that Art is necessary above all. In any case, Art is necessary for me, and it is important that we, the artists, are the first to demonstrate this.

I have placed this exhibition under the patronage and protection of the philosopher Simone Weil.

The exhibited works here are part of a series of works I created in 1997 titled Virus.

An initiative by TRAM

In July 2020, after the publication of several articles expressing the absolute need to be as close as possible to artists and authors during this crisis, TRAM network
members mobilized to support contemporary creation in a project entitled After: each participating member was invited to entrust a carte blanche to an artist-author or a collective of artists around the concept of “after.” With full freedom, artists and authors were able to express their perception of “after” through images and texts disseminated on TRAM’s website, the network’s social media, and through the press, thanks to a privileged partnership with The Art Newspaper Daily.

Over 6 months later, as the health crisis continues and as we must constantly re-examine our customs and our way of being citizens, masked, and as art and culture are considered “non-essential,” thereby prohibiting art venues from opening their doors, a new digital project emerges: it is about reaffirming that art and culture are essential. In a society more wounded than ever, where inequalities are growing terribly and where individual freedoms are undermined, after long months during which our only horizon was our home, we want to emphasize the importance of art and culture: their emancipatory power, their power of escapism, their ability to create social ties and to intellectually enrich us.

It is about giving voice and giving nothing away.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
{30-34 rue Henri Mürger, Aubervilliers
Outside Thomas Hirschhorn’s workshop
Monday to Friday
9 am - 5 pm}

PARTNERS
{TRAM} {The Art Newspaper Daily}