Julien Frydman
OFFSCREEN: avant-garde image-based work
Julien Frydman is the artistic director of Offscreen, the annual showcase dedicated to installations of still and moving images. Offscreen was launched in 2022, by Frydman and Jean-Daniel Compain, the former managing director of Reed Exhibitions, with the ambition of creating a “mini Unlimited” based on the model of large-scale artworks at Art Basel. The third edition of Offscreen is held over the six floors of a former car park, the Grand Garage Haussman, that is slated to be transformed into social housing. It is the opportunity to discover 28 cutting-edge, historical and contemporary artists working with a diversity of media, from video, films and photography to sculptures and installations.
“What interests me are artists who might have varied practices but create a way of capturing reality.“
You were director of Magnum photography agency, Paris Photo and Paris Photo Los Angeles. Then you worked for Fondation Luma in Arles before becoming director of Delpire publishing house. What did you learn through all these experiences?
JULIEN FRYDMAN :
At Magnum, I learnt the history of photography and worked with around 60 artists and photographers, listening to and seeking to understand the singularity of each of them. At Paris Photo at the Grand Palais, I learnt how to organise a fair and event, and that – even in a commercial setting – one could develop a curatorial line. At the Fondation Luma, where I was in the “prefiguration” team, I acquired a better understanding of contemporary artists and encountered a diversity of partnership projects and more experimental things like a design studio – a broad spectrum of contemporary practices such as performances, always with a very strong international dimension. During all that time, I was always a passionate collector of artists’ books. At Delpire, I was in charge of developing the editorial direction and working on important projects with artists, across a diversity of practices and creating international outlooks for different proposals.
Why did you decide to launch Offscreen?
JULIEN FRYDMAN :
Marc Spiegler [the former director of Art Basel] called me when he was about to replace Fiac and said, “If we take over Paris Photo, what could we do?” Back then, I wasn’t at all thinking of doing another fair. But I asked myself: “If I had to do something today, what would it be?”
At Paris Photo, I always found the word “photo” limiting. What interests me are artists who might have varied practices but work on a relationship to reality and create a way of capturing reality. What matters to me is what they say, whether in the form of performance, installation, collage, sculpture, photography or moving images. There’s a coherence that emerges and I told myself that I had to show it. I didn’t want to redo an art fair but create an experience for contemporary collectors who’ll recognise themselves through artistic visions offering a framework for discovery. This framework needs, a bit like Unlimited [in Basel], to offer artists greater freedom. So Offscreen is a bit like a mini Unlimited.
How would you define Offscreen?
JULIEN FRYDMAN :
I try not to call Offscreen a fair because when you say “fair”, you think “white cube”. Obviously, it has a commercial side because the works are for sale. One could call it a “curated art fair” or “curated salon” or think of another word to invent. Let’s say that it’s a curatorial proposal with works that engage the practices of image-making.
Why did you launch Offscreen with Jean-Daniel Compain?
JULIEN FRYDMAN :
Jean Daniel told me [in 2022], “I’ve made a reservation for Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild. Do you have an idea?” That’s how we launched Offscreen. We do it in temporary places. What’s interesting is that it’s the opportunity to rethink approaches to hanging works and creating experiences.
There are 28 artists in this edition. Who selects the artists?
JULIEN FRYDMAN :
It’s me, by discovering works that touch me and that I find unique. I never travel enough because one always wants to see more. All I can tell you is that I don’t want categories or themes. I prefer this way of destabilising things and, at the same time, creating unexpected juxtapositions. I don’t have a proposal to defend; I’m not writing a thesis or historical theory. However, I do want the spaces and the works to find their strength in this place and, quite naturally, dialogues develop.
Why have you chosen the Belgian filmmaker Chantal Ackerman (1950-2015) as this edition’s guest of honour?
JULIEN FRYDMAN :
She’s a film director who, very early on, thought of her works as installations, so it’s coherent. In her retrospective at the Jeu de Paume, one of her works isn’t being shown that’s very important for me because of how it creates a proposal around space. La Chambre [1972, a documentary/short film], is a work in four dimensions. There’s narration, time, space and the camera. Because of the camera turning, it’s almost like a three-dimensional element in which we’re immersed.
What are among the discoveries of this edition?
JULIEN FRYDMAN :
Susan Brockman – an [American] artist who made few works and who’s completely unknown. The two films being presented are very 1970s and incredibly poetic. We have to show artists that we don’t know, who’ve been forgotten or who weren’t known at the time.
Who’s your target market for acquisitions?
JULIEN FRYDMAN :
There are a lot of institutions and some major private collectors, obviously. There are increasingly more environments that welcome this type of ambitious work.
Would you be open to the idea of launching Offscreen in another city?
JULIEN FRYDMAN :
If the gallerists and a place are inspiring, yes, that would be logical, of course.
Offscreen est au 43-45 rue de Laborde, 75008 Paris, jusqu’au 20 octobre 2024.
https://offscreenparis.com/fr
Interview by Anna Sansom
Photos: Michael Huard and Offscreen
