Digressions #2: Benjamin Seror

This second title in the Digressions series finds artist Benjamin Seror discussing with Keren Detton, Julie Pellegrin and Eva Wittocx the origins of his performance The Marsyas Hour and the multi-layered cultural references underlying his practice.

In the course of the discussion the three interlocutors consider the evolution of the Seror oeuvre, its roots in pop music, comedy, the movies and literature – not to mention 18th-century French painting – as well as the importance of collecting stories and of improvisation/digression as a starting point. Convinced of the power and performativeness of language and “the way memory gives an overall view of people, places and periods”, he looks forward to “an equivalence between reality and fiction, in the sense that our ability to invent our living environment will always be indexed to the quality of the fictions we produce.”

Initiated in 2017 by Julie Pellegrin and the Centre for Contemporary Art team in collaboration with Captures éditions, Digressions is a series of interviews (bilingual French / English) that accompanies the programme. Through conversations with guest artists, the notebooks give behind the scenes access and bear witness to reflections, research, methodologies and sometimes the doubts and the trial and error that feed the working process. By giving a voice to artists, the entire collection brings out very singular voices that resonate with each other and explore shared questions around the performance and creation of exhibitions, the physical and political engagement and the decompartmentalization of disciplines.