The M.A.M.A.C, in collaboration with the New National Museum of Monaco, presents a retrospective of the work and oeuvre of Lars Fredrikson, a Swedish artist who passed away in 1997.
Around 1960, he settled in the south of France. His work, or rather his research, focuses on the various aspects of radio waves. His art is kinetic. At first glance, one might think he is a musician, composing music that would be unclassifiable in any repertoire. In fact, no! It is not music, but sounds. Lars uses all sorts of mediums; he gives movement to his works. They are not static; they move or, at the very least, make themselves heard.
This artist, somewhat like Gyro Gearloose, is in a constant quest for innovation. His stainless steel reliefs are mobile; depending on where you stand, the forms, your perceptions, change. The visitor becomes an actor and an element of the exhibition. Then, a white canvas, seemingly ordinary at first glance, upon closer attention, it too moves.
Lars Fredrikson plays with sounds, light, and very few colors; everything is about movement, the twinkling of radio waves. It must be repeated, this is not music, only sound and noises, but harmoniously diffused, they can deceive the uninformed visitor. To truly understand this artist, one must listen with their body, forgetting the ears which here would be misleading. In the final exhibition hall, everything is an illusion with white walls; nothing? Not at all, it’s subtler than that.
These walls, bare of any attachments, force us to listen to the sounds. Lars Fredrikson is a sound artist. Creating a sculpture without material (the white walls) is why I became passionate about sound. Admiring emptiness, a visitor said in front of those white walls! He was mistaken, because there is no emptiness with this artist; quite the contrary, his universe is very full, except that his means of expression is the impulse of sounds and noises.
The public can admire the work of Lars Fredrikson at the M.A.M.A.C until March 22, 2020.
