Tania Mouraud facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tania Mouraud
Born	(1942-01-02) January 2, 1942 (age 83) Paris, France
Nationality	French
Education	Autodidact
Known for	Video, photography, installation and sound performances
Awards	chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, chevalier de l'ordre national du Mérite, officier des Arts et des Lettres, officier de l'ordre national du Mérite

Tania Mouraud was born in Paris, France, on January 2, 1942. She is a French artist known for her modern art, including videos, photos, and sound performances.

Tania Mouraud started her art journey as a painter when she was young. She later moved into photography, building up a large collection of works. In the late 1990s, she began making her first videos. Her art often explores feelings of worry and responsibility. These ideas come from her own life experiences.

Her interest in video led her to create art using sound. In 2002, she started a group called Unité de Production for sound performances. She later began performing solo. She has created many video art pieces, like Ad Infinitum (2008) and Ad Nauseam (2014). She also worked with a famous music research center called IRCAM. In 2015, a big show of her art, "Tania Mouraud. A Retrospective", was held at the Centre Pompidou-Metz.

Early Artistic Journey

Tania Mouraud is a self-taught artist. She started her career by creating "Initiation Rooms" in the 1960s. These were special spaces designed to help people think deeply about themselves. In the 1970s, her art mixed art and philosophy. She focused on words and how they looked.

During this time, she also continued to develop her photography. By the late 1990s, she began making videos. Her videos often explore themes of worry and responsibility in the world. These themes are inspired by her personal experiences. She once said, "This obsession is something very personal that I share with the public."

Working with video encouraged Tania Mouraud to explore sound in her art. After performing with her group Unité de Production, she started doing live solo sound shows. Her video installations, like Ad Infinitum and Ad Nauseam, were important moments in her work. She also collaborated with IRCAM, a famous music research institute.

On March 4, 2015, a major exhibition of her work opened. It was called Tania Mouraud. A Retrospective and was held at the Centre Pompidou-Metz. This show was her first big solo exhibition. Nine other exhibitions of her art were also held in Metz at different places. This created an art journey throughout the city.

Initiation Rooms

In 1968, Tania Mouraud created her first "Initiation Rooms." These were shiny white spaces. They were designed to help people look inside themselves. These rooms aimed to create a feeling of self-awareness. Before these art spaces, she also had musical performances. These featured musicians like Pran Nath, Ann Riley, Terry Riley, and La Monte Young.

Tania Mouraud saw these spaces as extra rooms for our homes. She said they were "An extra space for an extra soul." She studied math at Paris 8 University. Later, she lived in Kerala, India, for six years. She still spends half the year there.

Art as a Question

In 1975, Tania Mouraud created art installations called "Art Spaces." She wrote short phrases on large plastic sheets. These sheets were the size of a wall. The phrases made viewers think about how they see things. They also made people aware of what they were doing.

Tania Mouraud continued this idea with a group called TRANS. She worked with Thierry Kuntzel and Jon Gibson. She showed her art at PS1 in New York. There, she met artists Dara Birnbaum and Dan Graham. In the same year, she started teaching art in Tourcoing, France.

During this time, she began her famous Wall Paintings. These were huge black letters painted on walls. The letters were stretched and close together. They were almost impossible to read at first glance. They formed a word or a phrase, like "I Have a Dream." In 1989, her work "WYSIWYG" was shown. It was at the Centre Georges-Pompidou. This piece hid a computer slogan behind its artistic look.

When she showed her Wall Paintings at the art school where she taught, Tania Mouraud shared her ideas. She talked about the artist's role in history. She asked, "What does it mean to be an artist in '92?" She mentioned unemployment and racism. She explained that even if her words were hard to read, someone would always try to understand them. She said, "I speak for that person. It's a secret."

Her art has been shown in many art centers. These include places in France, England, Canada, and the United States.

Writings as Art

Since the 1960s, Tania Mouraud has explored how writing can be shaped. For her, writing is a way to show things. It has parts that stand out and parts that are hidden.

Her works like Photo-texts (1971-1973) and Plastics (1972-1990) question how we see and read. They also explore how language hides reality. This research continued with her Wallpaintings from 1989. These works need special attention to be read. She also created "exploded writings" (2012-2017).

Tania Mouraud enjoys translating words into images. Her Dream series (2005) shows the quote "I have a dream." It is translated into 25 languages. This series shows how writing can become a drawing when it is hard to read. The words turn into lines and shapes.

She also explores the empty spaces around letters. Examples include City Performance n°1 (1977) and the Words series (1988). Other works are Black Continent (1990-1991) and Black Power (1988-1992). Her piece Alea 718 (1989) used a computer program. This program created a unique design. The artist wanted to use chance to create art.

Her artist's books, like FlashS' (2020), also show her focus on words and signs as art.

Photography

In the mid-1980s, Tania Mouraud started several photo series. One was "Made in Palace." It featured black and white photos of "gay parties" in a Paris club. The blurry images showed lively and busy spaces. The artist saw a link between painting and photography. She created other series until 1992. These photos showed kitschy objects in different places.

In 2008, Tania Mouraud continued to explore photography. Her "Borderland" series showed landscapes with round straw bales. She also created the "Rubato" series. These photos captured rubber tree farms in Kerala, India. The "Désastre" series focused on gaps in forests caused by cutting down trees. Her "Balafres" series showed quarries in Germany.

Videos and Installations

Tania Mouraud did not focus on video art for a long time. But in the 1990s, she became more interested in it. She said, "I got used to walking with a camcorder, and slowly, the idea grew." The 2000s marked a big change for her. Video became a very important part of her art.

Here are some of her main video creations:

• "Sightseeing" (2002): This video shows a foggy winter landscape. It was filmed through a misty window. A clarinet plays sad music. For seven minutes, the road seems like a worrying climb. It stops in front of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in Alsace. The video makes you think of a train journey, but it's actually a car trip.
• "Le verger" (2003): This video shows bright flowers mixed with war images. The pictures change very quickly. The sound is heavy and metallic, with upsetting cries. "Le Verger" was shown right away at the Frac in Lower Normandy.
• "La Fabrique" (2006): These video installations were filmed in India. They were shown in many cities in France. This included the Fiac art fair in Paris. They were also shown in California, Canada, and St. Petersburg.
• "Roaming" (2009): This video installation was shown at the musée de la chasse et de la nature in Paris. A press release described it as showing her great skill in video art. It was filmed in black and white. The dark forests and watchtowers look almost abstract. The sound makes the images feel even more dramatic. These natural scenes become symbols of human life, violence, and death.
• "Ad Infinitum" (2009): This was a huge video installation. It was projected inside a chapel in Nantes. Filmed whales appeared and disappeared in dark, cloudy water. Tania Mouraud said it showed "the plea of living things." It also showed "nature begging us to stop harming the environment." It was like "the cries of our inner child" facing the unknown.
• "Once upon a time" (2012): This was a giant projection on Toronto City Hall. It was shown during Nuit Blanche. The video shows machines attacking nature. When a saw cuts a tree, it feels like it's cutting into our own bodies.
• "Ad Nauseam" (2014): This was a huge video triptych. It was shown at the Musée d'art contemporain du Val-de-Marne. Three videos played side-by-side in a large room. They showed a book recycling plant. There were no people in the videos. Machines piled and ground thousands of books. Tania Mouraud created the sound for this piece with IRCAM. A constant droning sound came from the grinding machines.

Sound Performances

In 2002, Tania Mouraud started a music group called "Unité de Production." She worked with Christian Atabekian and others. She then studied music online at the Berklee College of Music. Since 2008, she has performed live solo improvisations. She plays music that goes along with her videos. She has performed at many places. These include Béton Salon in Paris and the Musée d'Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne.

Art for Society

In 1977, Tania Mouraud created her first "City performance." She put up 54 large billboards in Paris. Each billboard had the word "NI" written on it. This word means "neither" or "nor." It was a strong way to say "no" without saying what it was against. It seemed to be a protest against advertising.

In 1993, Tania Mouraud created "Apartment 374." This was an ongoing art piece in an apartment. It was in a building designed by Le Corbusier in Firminy. She put symbols used by nomads on the windows. This made the apartment feel like a "welcoming home." During the exhibition, croissants were given out for free.

In 1996, she scattered 4000 small medals in New York City. These medals had the word "love" on them. She also did this at the Fondation Cartier and the Mirabelle Festival in Metz.

That same year, she showed Le Silence des héros (The Silence of Heroes). This was part of an exhibition in Germany. Red and black flags were rolled up and placed against the wall.

Permanent Artworks

• WYSIWYG (1989–2007): This is a wall painting. It is located at the Public Information Library, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris, France.
• La Curée (2004): This is a video installation. It is at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, château de Chambord, France.
• HCYS? (2005): This is a print on a tarp. It is part of the FRAC collection in Metz, France.
• DDDDLH (2006–2008): This is a low-relief sculpture. It was ordered by the Val-de-Marne General Council. It is at the Fernande-Flagon college in Valenton, France.

Exhibitions

Tania Mouraud has had many solo and group exhibitions around the world. Here are some of them:

Solo Exhibitions

• 2022: [DIRE], Ceysson & Bénétière Gallery, Lyon
• 2021: MEZZO FORTE, Ceysson & Bénétière Gallery, Luxembourg
• 2020: Dream, Sorbonne Art Gallery, Paris
• 2019: Tania Mouraud, Ecriture(s), Hangar 107, Rouen
• 2015: Tania Mouraud, Une Rétrospective, Centre Georges Pompidou Metz
• 2014: Ad Nauseam, at the musée d'art contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MAC/VAL)
• 2012: deuxlarmessontsuspenduesàmesyeux, Collège des Bernardins, Paris, France
• 2009: Ad Infinitum, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, France
• 2008: Roaming, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, France
• 2006: La Fabrique, CSUF Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, California, USA
• 2003: Le Verger, FRAC Basse Normandie, Caen, France
• 1999: Made in Palace, Galerie Rabouan Moussion, Paris
• 1992: The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada
• 1978: Kairos (performance), Franklin Furnace, New York
• 1973: ARC 2, (music Jon Gibson), Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Group Exhibitions

• 2022: Parisiennes Citoyennes ! 1789–2000, Carnavalet Museum, Paris
• 2021: Elles font l’abstraction, Guggenheim Bilbao
• 2020: Le vent se lève, MAC VAL, Vitry
• 2019: Festival Rose Beton - Tania Mouraud, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse
• 2018: Carnegie International, 57th edition, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, US
• 2017: Contemporary Istanbul, Gallery Eastwards Prospectus, Istanbul, Turkey
• 2016: Observations sonores, Musée Gassendi, Dignes-les-eaux, France
• 2015: Tous les chemins mènent à Schengen, FRAC Lorraine, Metz, France
• 2013: EMOI & MOI, MAC VAL, Villejuif, France
• 2012: Once Upon a Time, video installation, Nuit Blanche, Toronto City Hall, Toronto, Canada
• 2011: Elles était une fois, Eglise des Cordeliers, Gourdon, France
• 2010: elles@centrepompidou, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
• 2009: Universal Code, The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada
• 2008: Regarde de tous tes yeux, regarde – L'art contemporain de Georges Perec, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes
• 2006: La Force de l'Art, Grand Palais, Paris
• 2005: Wonder women, FRAC Lorraine, Metz, France
• 2002: Les années 70, musée d'art contemporain, CAPC, Bordeaux, France
• 1997: Amours, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris
• 1996: Wall Drawings ‘96: B. McGee, T. Mouraud, M. Dean Veca, The Drawing Center, New York
• 1995: Femininmasculin, MNAM, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris
• 1990: Art & Pub, MNAM, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris
• 1983: Arc 2 : 1973/1983, musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris
• 1976: Ambiente/Arte, Biennale de Venise, Italy
• 1972: 60/72, 12 ans d'art contemporain en France, Grand Palais, Paris

Images for kids

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  Tania Mouraud