1-  when we met in Montreal you said this exhibition was historical : can you resume why within a few sentences, and how do you place LAb[au] in those filiations (Vera Molnar, Schöffer, Vasarely)? 

The aim of the exhibition is to confront the works of French-Hungarian pioneers in kinetic, cybernetic and generative art with young, contemporary artists working in the same fields. Presenting the works in the frame of the Vasarely Foundation, temple of kinetic and op art, is an extraordinary challenge giving the purpose an incredible coherency. The direct confrontation between these works creates a lot of cross readings, outlining the incredible actuality of the pioneer’s works as it shows a continuity within the field of system based art. I think the exhibition constitutes a strong statement about digital art being in the line of the 20’s century avant-garde as it testifies a visionary, positivist and fundamental approach in the arts.

2 - if it is esay to explain  : can you tell us how do you apprehend art, design and architecture in your work  : do you draw a hierarchy between those different field of creation ?

LAb[au]’s work is about system based art exploring generative, reactive, interactive… settings. As such the artistic practice is grounded on the logics, parameters, of the set systems which involve technological as aesthetic, cultural, parameters. LAb[au] defines this methodological approach as MetaDeSign and considers art as media. The context, is it an artistic, architectural, musical or any other, is analyzed as information which constitutes a certain system of signs, a media, out of which parameters’ an artifact is shaped. For this reason LAb[au]’s concern is less about the classification of its projects, be it defined as art or architecture, but about the underlying design method. LAb[au]’s projects are the result of a systemic, conceptual and methodological process which can be applied to different artistic practices, the reason we talk about MetaDesign rather than art or architecture.

3- what was your first meeting with op art or cinetic art

LAb[au]’s projects are influenced by 20’s century avant-garde and mostly abstract, minimal and conceptual art. From Bauhaus (industrial design), to the Ulmer Schuler (art concrete) or the audio-visual pioneers of the beginning of the 20th’s century to cybernetic art, they all play a determining role in the way we perceive and conceive art. The definition of our artistic practice as MetaDeSign stands in this tradition of abstract art. From this point of view op and kinetic art plays an important role when speaking about systemic art which researches its proper language. Further on, op and kinetic art explore the perceptive and cognitive qualities of an artifact expressing its constituting elements in a concrete non metaphorical or illustrative manner; as such they place art as an aesthetic science which is absolutely relevant in the digital realm.

4-Can you tell us how did you apprehend the exhibition at the Vasarely foundation ?

that can be said on the phone : like, did you have entire freedom to choose your art works and the rooms where you wanted them to be ? Was it a great dilema to decide which piece should de part of the show or not ? why

One of the great opportunities in the conception of the exhibition was the possibility to confront the art works with the architecture of the foundation, to select works of Vasarely and to create a unique reading by mixing and juxtaposing the different selected and existing works. Therefore the classical approach of grouping the works by authors or a chronological hanging has been given up in favor of a conceptual and formal view. Here the great enthusiasm of Second nature and Pierre Vasarely made this exhibition possible while giving place to a ‘personal’ view an interpretation of Vasarely’s work. The conception and exchange which has been undertaken to make the exhibition possible may effectively correspond to the initial idea of Vasarely which he formulated for his foundation as being a place of exchange between different artistic practices and a place for the development of computer based art.

5- you say : lab[au] 's work are at one hand custom creations for site-specific requests and at the other hand conceptual derivates of these site-specifically created artworks : What was the part of creation for this specific exhibition ?For me compared to what i discoverd at the 104, it seems that Framework F5X5X5 has found its place at Vasaraely foundation but i am sure that its "soul" can be revealed in other different ways  in an other space such as a church...do you have somethig to says about this.

The financial frame of the exhibition didn’t allow conceiving site specific installations. Therefore the exhibition relies on a selection of existing art works and installations but which doesn’t exclude that the unique frame of the foundation and the concept of the exhibition can’t produce a new view angle for the presented works, can’t reveal hidden formal or conceptual aspects, can’t produce a moment of aesthetic pleasure… For example LAb[au]’s installation ‘Framework f5x5x5’ has definitely found its place in the Vasarely foundation profiting from the architectural and artistic frame revealing an artistic, formal and conceptual coherency with the existing frame. Of course having seen the installation in many different contexts it is an enhancing but not exclusive moment. For example the presentation of the installation in the ‘Basilique de Saint-Denis’ revealed its light architecture and the reverberation of the motors created a strong sonic presence rhythming the entire space. This gave the installation a very contemplative closely meditative quality whereas in the foundation emerges an incredible iconic quality. It’s great to have the opportunity to present and experience the work in different ‘frames’ crystallizing different aspects of the work. We hope that the exhibition in the foundation Vasarely has the same impact for the invited artists and the visitors.

6 -was Particues synthesis specificaly concieved for the exhibition ?

But there is nevertheless an exception in the exhibition in concerns of the particle synthesis installation. On the basis of an existing development we have been conceiving a new audio-visual installation for the exhibition, called ‘particle synthesis’. The principle of the installation is to related granular sound synthesis with the 3d visualization of particles; here each particle is a sonic grain, a small program evolving in space. The spatial perception of this process is rendered in 360 degree by the means of 6 projections and quadraphonic sound. The screens form a floating hexagon a tribute to the hexagonal architecture of the foundation underlining the mathematical and systemic principle of the building as the installation. Also it reference Vasarely work based on bi-dimensional color surface evoking three-dimensionality this spatial perception is achieved in the installation by the interaction between sound and visual shapes (polygons).

7-Do you consider: Framework notations as a piece of art in itself, or part of the process of creation fo Framework F5X5X5, an artefact of  Framework F5X5X5, a code programme, the Dna sequence picture of it ???(it is the one which reveals a pattern and  a cross,  upstairs, right ?)

The framework notations are mappings of the kinetic and luminous behavior of a frame of the likely named framework installation. A notation is a ‘writing’ system to compose elements evolving in time; as such they constitute a proper visualization of the process. In this manner the graphical work forms another reading of the inherent logics of the installations as the emerging patterns reveals their own visual and conceptual interest; as such they give a reading to the generative process of the installation as they become generative artworks in them self. In the exhibition the proximity to Vasarely’s work uncover similar composition techniques where the repetition of the same bi-dimensional element but slightly tilted forms a spatial pattern. This visual effect of the ‘static’ graphical works produce an interesting reading compared to the dynamic process of the installation where the bi-dimensional frames continuously forms spatial patterns. In the exhibition the framework notations constituted an important articulation between the installations and the graphical works all based on ‘rules’ the artists use to produce their works. They visualize the inherent logics formed by programmed systems.

8-in the 60's when Henri Geroges Clouzot decided to direct Hell with Romy scheider and Regiani using kinetics art to express human feelings (like jealousy), plasticians at the time did not really agree : they thought their art was definitly conceptual art that should not be interpreted but  seen for its pure plastician forms. Do you agree with that ?

Yes of course, the works are conceptual and concrete artifacts which doesn’t represent anything else than their own construct, or do you really believe that an artwork can represent jealousy or even be jealous? But this conceptual approach doesn’t exclude an aesthetic pleasure neither for the author nor the spectator. The true quality of an artwork always lies in its own construct and as such does not represent anything else but itself, but as an artifact it shapes the signs of its time and as such has a ‘meta’ meaning.

 9- LAb[au]wrote "we are invited to premier electronic arts after 20 years of very contemporary features of artists such as Françis Bacon, Anish Kapoor, Carl Andre, Jenny Holzer… " Do you think that electronic arts are having the same hard time to find their place in the hisotry of art just as Kinetics art did 50 years ago? why?

Yes digital art still has a hard time to find its place in the art world since it constitutes its own system of signs. There are still few people who have critical tools to apprehend digital art and as such for many people the ‘meaning’ remains uncovered. This fact is reinforced by the nature of the work itself which implies a certain ‘technological’ (media) and ‘cultural’ (signs) understanding of the setting. This correlation is fundamental for digital art since the meaning of the work mostly emerges out of its construct. As such this question is not proper to digital art but to abstract, minimal and conceptual art in general; an art which claims nothing more than itself and which ‘meaning’ is not ‘imported’ from outside. When sharing this perception on art we can extract another argue: few people trust their aesthetic instinct which would allow them to admire simply the effect (not to say beauty) of the construct without any ‘pseudo’ intellectual legitimation.

10- is there anything you want to say  about this exhibition which would be developped in the catalogue so that we can refer to it -- extra : does this exhibition represent a specific stake in your carrer ?

For us the exhibition in the foundation Vasarely is a pure pleasure which allows us to present our artistic motivation and which is crowned by the MetaDeSIGN book. The book release for this occasion constitute a major step in our artistic practice and presents an important selection of LAb[au]’s works. The design of the book allowed us to pinpoint our design concepts and methods wherefore we decided to present our projects not in a chronological manner but according to the systems the projects are based on. The different chapters run from ‘closed systems’ (generative, analytic) to open systems (reactive, interactive, performative and connective) and underlines the basis of system art. According to this principle we further mapped our entire practice which forms cartographies presented in the beginning of the book and which make out of the book an information design itself. We would like to use the opportunity of this interview to thank the invited authors, Eleonore Schöffer (text about open systems) Annette Doms (text about process design) and Marius Watz (text about closed system) for their theoretical input and ‘seconde nature’ for their incredible confidence and support. It is more than a pleasure to benefit from such support and to be able to document it in form of such an exhibition and book.