Désillusions d'optique

Mathieu Mercier’s works have a special quality which seems to have to do with their conspicuously static character: their stable presence within the exhibition seems to invite us, with a subtle emphasis, to consider their aesthetic value, their status, the probability of their function, and the cultural worlds which they refer to… In the evident relationship of otherness which they introduce, they naturally invite us to become aware of the exercise being enacted, or one which visitors are invited to become involved in, in a promised absence of interactivity. So, in addition to being the title of this exhibition, the “optical disillusion” in question is a special modus operandi for reconsidering the objects, works and sign systems which they convey. This seemingly involves thwarting the habits of understanding and perception which govern the mode of relationship to the world and to works of art.