Ubiquité

UBIQUITE pour MAJT et FR3 Lille

I COUNT, I COUNT, I COUNT ...
Fred Forest was invited to take part in a communication day on 26 April 1984 organised by the MAJT (Maison des jeunes travailleurs) in Lille.
As usual, instead of giving a lecture, he successfully attempted to create an installation for the occasion.
He contacted the regional TV station FR3 and obtained their agreement. The performance took place simultaneously in two locations - the TV station and the MAJT.

1. He pre-recorded a video in which he counted interminably, which was broadcast directly on FR3, leaving a few gaps during which he dialogued with his own image from a distance. The TV presenter invites viewers to take part by calling in on the phone to be put on air and to take over for a moment by counting themselves in the artist's place.
2. The artist can then be seen on the screen articulating the numbers while the viewers' voices are heard. The effect is striking when it is women or teenagers who express themselves through and on the image of the artist, whose image is always present on air.
   In front of a packed audience at the Maison des Jeunes Travailleurs, Fred Forest, equipped with a microphone, set up a series of television sets where the programme could be seen taking place, but also in a closed circuit, himself present in the room, dressed identically, also counting in synchronisation with his image present on FR3 Lille.
3. The aim of this performance was to highlight what new technologies allow us to do today by manipulating images: to create a pseudo ubiquity in a deceptive way and to make us believe in a confusion of times (a subterfuge used, for example, by a potentate already on the run far from his country to make us believe that he is still there, in order to motivate his supporters who are still there...). 

LE JET D'EAU :
Fred Forest left instructions by telephone from the Foundation for the artist Jean-Marc Philippe to pass on to people prepared to receive them in Tokyo and New York by telephone. The instructions were to ask the Foundation to stop the water jet in the central space of the Foundation's gardens. The public in the performance room can see the water jet in operation at all times via a closed-circuit electronic screen.

Le JET D’EAU et le tour du Globe terrestre

A performance at the Armando Verdiglione Foundation in Senago, Italy
Fred Forest left instructions by telephone from the Foundation for the artist Jean-Marc Philippe to pass on to people prepared to receive them in Tokyo and New York. The instructions were to ask the Foundation to turn off the water jet in the central space of the Foundation's gardens. The public in the performance room can see the water jet in operation at all times via a closed-circuit electronic screen. Ubiquity ...