Author: PHILIPS, KARL / VAN DER CELEN, WIM
Title: Karl Philips : Renault Trafic - a Sculptural Project in Bois de Boulogne, One of the Largest and Most Famous Parks in Paris.
Description: Gent, HISK - Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten. 2012, First Edition. Soft Cover. Artists' Book, New. Text: FR/EN. 56 p.; ills.; 21 x 14,5 cm; 120 g. --- "In his ‘Renault Traffic ’project, Karl Philips parked three Renault Traffic vans, 1983 model, alongside the road in Bois de Boulogne. As is the case with most vans parked there, tires were punctured and wheel axes were supported by stones. This immobilizes the vehicles and bestows a sculptural character on the lot. The supporting elements became base socles. The doors were welded by the artist. This type of interventions and choices confirm the emphasis on language of shapes and the specific coding of marginal phenomena instead of an emphasis on the phenomena as such. The overall view gets an acute sense of objectivity, which is emphasized again by the artist in his level-headed action: he dumps (temporarily) the metal structure being a vehicle, alongside the road. The sculpture becomes part of the context and the background. The Renault Traffic is literally taking its place in the traffic already associated with, though involuntary." (p. 6) --- ' Renault Trafic' by Karl Philips. Part of the exhibition Mind the System, Find the Gap, Z33, Hasselt, 02.06-30.09.2012. For Renault Trafic, Karl Philips drove three old Renaults to the Bois de Boulogne, near Paris. By day, this park is the ideal get-away for hikers, joggers and day-trippers. At night, numerous parked vans -- mainly Renault Trafics with flat or even no tyres -- function as illegal prostitution squats. With Renault Trafic Philips addresses strategies of survival of minorities within dominant systems. The Bois de Boulogne is -- for the greater part - inhabited by Parisian outcasts, homeless people and drug addicts who are trying to survive in the shrubbery alongside the trail walks. With his intervention, Philips enters a social reality and changes a number of elements in its chaotic structure. He refrains from acting as a cultural therapist, however, limiting himself to showing the pragmatics of day-to-day life. Philips parked three customized (and welded shut) Renault Trafics as sculptural elements between the other vans -- a scene for the unknowing actors: "On the street, the three Renault Trafics function as a space, a stage-set for an unconscious performance, performed by an unknown cast." -- publication Onomatopee.

Keywords: Karl Philips Hisk


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