Thierry Geoffroy (; born 1961), also known as Colonel, is a Danish-French artist, living in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is a Conceptual artist using a wide variety of media including video and installations, often collaborative with other artists.
Format Art Format art is a form of art defined in the praxis of Thierry Geoffroy. An art format can be defined as a reproducible, rule-defined configuration with a set of identifying characteristics that remain the same in each recreation of the original, involving a group or audience that partake in the relevant act. An art format can be defined as a reproducible, rule-defined configuration with a set of identifying characteristics that remain the same in each recreation of the original, involving a group or audience that partake in the relevant act. The format itself is the art and is intentioned to work as a catalyst for changing the perspectives of those involved as well as the audience.Rosenvinge, Line. Thierry Geoffroy/ COLONEL - "Catalyst", David Dunchin, trans. Written and produced in conjunction with the Top Up salon featuring Thierry Geoffroy/ Colonel, held at Rahbeks Allé 32, Frederiksberg, Denmark, 18 November 2010, p.12 In 1989 he wrote a manifest on five types of moving exhibitions (Manifeste – Les differents Types de moving Exhibitions). Since then he has worked on several other formats, including the "Emergency Room", which has toured internationally and has been shown at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in New York City. The formats generally involve many participants and are designed to investigate dysfunctions and emergencies while social psychology (e.g., conflicts, collaboration) unfolds.
His method is inspired by the TV program format: art institutions wanting to use an art format must purchase a license and agree to use the original title, architectural concept, and methods. As in TV, vast documentation is always created with video and photo material as central elements.The goal is training the awareness muscle and addressing the question "what is important now?"
Emergency Room
Geoffroy devised the 'Emergency Room' concept to allow artists to respond to current events promptly. The exhibits are changed every day. Artists bring their work to the specially designed circular room, Emergency Room space at a set time every day in order to present, working within a deadline. The artwork shown must have been created within 24 hours of its exhibiting, in order to keep the exhibition as in keeping with the now as possible. The art should specifically relate to themes of emergency; i.e. ongoing crises, topical issues or socio-political problems, the artwork is debated amongst Geoffroy, the media, audience and artists. 'Emergency Rooms have been held in Copenhagen, Berlin, New York, Athens, Hanoi, Johannesburg, Naples and Paris and over 450 artists have taken part. After 24 hours, artworks from Emergency Room are exhibited in the Delay Museum, an adjacent exhibiting space, and become part of the Delay Museum collection. It is Geoffroy's vision to have a permanent Emergency Room in every major city in the world.
Biennalist Biennalist is another Art Format by Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel, concurrently commenting on active biennials and managed cultural events through artworks. Biennalist takes the thematics of the biennales and similar events like documenta, festivals and conferences seriously, questioning the established structures of the staged art events in order to contribute to the debate, which they wish to generate. Often the pertinence of the themes of the biennales is tested on location. Biennalist has been activated at the Venice Biennale 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019, Athens Biennale 2007 and 2011, Biennale of Sydney 2010, Sarema Biennale 1997, Rotterdam Biennale 1990, U-Turn Quadriennale 2008, Manifesta 2010, Liverpool Biennial 2010 and Istanbul Biennial 2007.
Critical Run Critical Run is an art format, like Emergency Room and Biennalist. Running participants debate about emergency topics like climate change, xenophobia, wars, hypocrisy, apathy. Critical Run organised by Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel has been activated on invitation from institutions such as Moderna Museet in Stockholm, MoMA PS1, Witte de With Rotterdam, ZKM Karlsruhe, Liverpool Biennale, Sprengel Museum in Hannover, and at the Venice Biennale but runs have also just happened on the spot because a debate was necessary here and now.
Participants have been Swedish art critics, German police, American climate activists, Chinese Gallerists, Brazilian students, and many others in over 20 countries. A room presenting 40 critical runs at once was presented as part of Geoffroy's 2020 "The Awareness Muscle Training Centre" exhibition at Museum Villa Stuck in Munich, Germany.
Awareness Muscle
The Awareness Muscle format is a body of work by the artist that encompasses several different projects in the artists career, but most importantly indicates a mix of in-depth questioning on a participant while they engage in physical exercise with the help of a training circuit involving fitness machines. These machines are at once metaphorical and poetic, all relating to a different chosen topic (for example "the thinking machine" reprises themes of life satisfaction and other topics that require cognitive evaluation). This format was the subject of a presentation in Toronto's Blackwood Gallery in 2007 and was realised in totality as part of "The Awareness Muscle Training Center" exhibition at Museum Villa Stuck. The machines form a total circuit that intends to train the visitors awareness of their own attitudes towards issues such as democracy, diversity, climate change and the environment.
Penetration
The "Penetration" format is an artist's act of placing an artwork within another artist's exhibition. The Penetration is a solution to avoid the lateness of bureaucratic art institutions, by circulating space between the actors – artist to artist. A penetration is not only meant as a shortcut, but also a beneficial collaboration. The format has been seen at the Athens Biennial "Emergency Room", at the Istanbul Biennial, at the Venice Biennial in 2007 (by Biennalist), at the Venice Biennial in 2009 (penetrations at the Venezuelan Pavilion with Daniel Medina, at the Finnish Pavilion with Jussi Kivi and at the Belgian boat with Jacques Charlier, curated by Enrico Lunghi). The "Penetration" format was also activated at Manifesta 8 in Murcia.Thierry Geoffroy/ Colonel Manifesta8.com, retrieved February 15, 2013 Here the format took place in a 'Penetration Room', combining Geoffroy's "penetration" art. The 2010 Biennale took the theme of "North Africa" and Geoffroy invited North African artists to intervene (or penetrate) the exhibition space.
Extracteur Extracteur has existed from the beginning of Geoffroy's artistic career, being presented in his 1989 Manifesto "Moving Exhibition". The format can involve sending a person (character) to create a photographic collection or text participation of a personal experience. In 2011, a digital version was designed to "retake the right to reread and reorganise the representation of the world" as a reaction to social media's collection of private information. He first used the format during the 2011 Venice Biennale.
Slowdance Debate Another format by Geoffroy is the slowdance debate. This format consists of strangers dancing with another in an embrace, while debating on topics of concern. Debate topics are of a similar nature to those in Critical Run and has often been activated as a less physically demanding, slower option to the running format. The format can be seen as an attempt to inspire awareness, openness and expression between people, to make people more aware of the world around them and more likely to react to current problems. It has been activated in convergence with other formats, for instance at the MoMA/ PS1 exhibition of Emergency Room, where it was activated on most Sundays and as part of Biennalist multiple times at the Venice Biennale. A Slow Dance Debate at the Roskilde Festival was featured on the programme “The Meaning of Life” on DR2.
Artwork While Thierry Geoffroy works frequently with what he calls format art, he also creates physical artworks to convey immediate expressions about the world and art. While his tent artworks may be the most famous, he has also used a variety of mediums to showcase statements (usually of a critical nature) and drawings of his own. These have taken the form of neon signs, personalized traffic signs, artworks on cardboard ("cartons"), canvas artworks, as well as photographic or video pieces.
Tent Artworks
Documenta Kassel Geoffroy has used tents over his career to comment on ongoing situations, usually in contexts specific to the issue. The most notable tent artwork he has produced is one titled "The Emergency Will Replace The Contemporary". This unsolicited tent was placed by Geoffroy in front of the Fridericianum at Documenta Kassel during Documenta 13. The tent was spray-painted with the title statement, as well as ""Art in delay can not have impact", "The contemporary is always too late, never in time" and "I am not working for the tourism office". These statements centre around a critique of Documenta and the contemporary artworld, how the spectacle of contemporary art, especially in its attempts at putting forward a humanitarian image, often prevent any concrete change from happening. "The Emergency Will Replace the Contemporary" is the notion that an alert and active approach to art will take over the structure of the contemporary artworld in the future. A photograph of the tent appeared on the cover of the Belgium Hart magazine. At this point the tent was removed, leaving scorch marks where it had been. The tent was later bought by Kunsthalle Mannheim, becoming part of their permanent collection. Strangely enough at Documenta 14, Documenta commissioned a large marble tent, similar in appearance to Geoffroy's, for display in Athens. Geoffroy produced another tent artwork, spray painted this time with "Welcome Cheap Workers'' as a comment on Documenta's moving to Athens.
Copenhagen He has also created a series of tent artworks that comment on the coronavirus lockdown's impacts on society. Placed in several spots around Copenhagen during the first coronavirus lockdown period, themes presented by the tents questioned the situations impact on the homeless, the designation of essential and non-essential industries and the democratic issues resulting from the pandemic precautions.
Venice In 2017, Geoffroy attended the Venice Biennale and used one of his tents to question the theme of that year "Viva Arte Viva", which was said to be inspired by humanism. In response to the curator Christine Macel's declaration that art was the last bastion for uprising, Geoffroy placed a tent by the Giardini, in front of one of the megayachts, with the slogan "Is art the last bastion for uprise?" questioning the capacity for art to be a purely expressive, humanistic platform while the Biennale attracts the global elite.
Tents in an exhibition
Photographs Geoffroy's tents have been featured in exhibitions in the form of photographic prints, in this way the original context of the tent can remain intact and the tents retain their site specificity. For example, in the exhibition "Constructing the World" in Kunsthalle Mannheim, Geoffroy exhibited several prints of his tent artworks in Venice, Athens and Kassel.
Sculptures Several tent artworks have been featured in museum exhibitions, such as Emergency Room in Wroclaw, Biennalist at the ZKM Museum and at the Kunsthalle Mannheim. In this setting the tents become a sculpture, with symbolic, placard-like surfaces. In the Kunsthalle Mannheim exhibition, Geoffroy also had the opportunity to place his tents throughout the museum collection.
Cartons