When our toys fall the mask

Visitors enter "Rayon Jouets", an exhibition for young and old at Hangar Y, installed until September 22 in the two mezzanines of the former airship hangar, as if they were entering a toy store. And, as in a large toy store, children will only be allowed to touch... with their eyes! A preamble that is important, as this exhibition, designed by the Argentinian artist Ad Minoliti, bringing together almost as many works of contemporary art (50) as old toys (80) from major institutions, brings this irresistible universe to life through all the senses. A fun treasure hunt proposed by Anne Monier Vanryb, curator in charge of the toy collection at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris, Cédric Fauq, contemporary art expert and head of the projects department at the CAPC Musée d'art contemporain in Bordeaux, as well as Blanche de Lestrange for the Art Explora Foundation. Fall back into childhood? But for a just cause. What could be better, in this foggy era, than to go back over the trail of these years of innocence… Especially since “Rayon Jouets” offers a critique of the way in which toys condition our systems of understanding the world from a very young age, to the point of reproducing what we call the norm. A journey from prehistory that leads us to rediscover the good old rattles, baby dolls, Barbie and, finally, video games… The selection of contemporary art fascinates us with what these works, paintings, sculptures, installations by internationally renowned and emerging artists, tell us about us and our different generations. So should we really be wary of these “disturbing oddities” populating our children’s bedrooms, to the point of uniting – perhaps – without our knowledge to orchestrate the world? Answers from Cédric Fauq in the form of… a game!

Cédric Fauq ©Paris+ by Art Basel 2022

Anne Monier Vanryb

If you were the oldest toy in the world?
“Among the toys that fascinate me in the “Rayon Toys” exhibition is this collection of old rattles. Their story is interesting. One of the rattles dates from 2000 BC, on loan from the “Toy Museum” of Morians-en-Montagne. A bronze rattle from Iran. It was to be used to calm the cries of children which could irritate the deities. We also learn that, in the Greco-Roman world, rhythm and music amused and calmed children, but also helped to structure their souls, by diverting them from activities which, it is said, caused them to develop bad habits. »

If you were a healing toy?
"The visitor can discover several works by Benoît Piéron in the exhibition. This French artist experienced several illnesses during his childhood, which he spent in hospital. Transfused, he was one of the children who were victims of the contaminated blood affair. Following this, he devoted his life to art, developing what he calls "immobile journeys". Running away, escaping, crossing different temporalities and geographies through several means, including that of storytelling. He thus created a bat-shaped plush toy made from discarded hospital sheets that he calls Monique in reference to the writer and activist Monique Wittig, a pioneer of the MLF (Women's Liberation Movement). In the exhibition, the bat's head overhangs the handle of a crutch."

If you were a toy to keep until the end?
"I would say a construction game, like Lego or K'Nex. Because that's precisely what allows you to remake and unmake endlessly. In the exhibition, I'm thinking of the 3D prints of Arash Nassiri, an Iranian artist living in France. His series of works represents dollhouses from the Japanese brand "Sylvanian Families". The artist painted the houses in "nardo" gray, a shade used by the car manufacturer Audi. Arash also hung miniature LCD screens on the walls of the houses, like those you can see in the streets of Tehran and on which Farsi advertisements scroll. We see these dollhouses transform themselves to become works of art. The artistic process and what it can involve in terms of processes and operations (collages, assemblages, translation, etc.) is similar to the gestures of a child at play. This is also one of the criteria that guided us in choosing the artists featured in this exhibition. Another thought focused on the link to be woven with the toy once it has left childhood. I am thinking here of Kyle Thurman's paintings showing busts of Iron Man, the superhero from the Marvel universe created in the 60s. This American artist draws inspiration from computer-generated images and online communities that reproduce and 3D print busts of Iron Man to then personalize and wear them. We are in the world of Cosplay, a form of play for adults.

If you were a rearguard toy?
"These are the board games that were used for propaganda purposes by the French colonial empire. For example, "L'Empire français", a game of seven families from the brand "Miro Company" dating from 1939 and now kept by the Musée des Arts décoratifs. It is exhibited in the "Toys Department" among other similar pieces. We will see later: over the centuries, toys could have been a propaganda tool."

If you were the toy of the future?
“It would be a toy that would teach people to invent another relationship with competition and nature. We can cite the work of Éloïse Bonneviot and Anne de Boer, “Tracing a Seeping Terrain”. These two artists, born in France and the Netherlands, are inspired to create themes on the relationships between species and on climate issues. Their works speculate on the construction of another world. They work, for example, on how video games can help us change our relationship with nature and make us aware of the impact – both negative and positive – that we can have on the environment. This work is therefore presented as a video game, for one to two players. In a landscape mixing nature and city, the player is invited to take care of the environment or destroy it. He can also change his point of view and adopt that of an animal. From a fire or a flood, the player is involved in a combination of interdependencies. »

What if you were a toy that flops?
“In her work “ET the Extra-Terrestrial”, Marianne Vieulès evokes one of the biggest flops in the history of games and toys. She was interested in the Atari video game launched in 1982, an adaptation of the Steven Spielberg film. The game was developed in a very short time to benefit from the success of the film. But it was a complete commercial failure! It is said to be the worst game in video game history. A large quantity of unsold items were buried and cast in concrete in New Mexico, before being recovered and finally entering the collections of prestigious museums such as the Smithsonian. The exhibition here highlights the economic challenges of the industry: toys are also a market, and users, children, are also customers.”

If you were a cuddly toy?
“It would be the work of Bunny Rogers which takes the form of a wooden structure, a shelf, identical to the design of the shelves of the library at Columbine High School, in Colorado, where this shooting took place in April 1999 which shocked America, and beyond. On the shelves are a multitude of soft toys referencing the musician Elliott Smith. It is known that the two teenagers who carried out the massacre listened a lot to Smith's music. This work is a sign that we can take care of certain traumas through stuffed animals. »

If you were an inclusive toy?
"It would be that of "Queen City Special", the 2020 work by Aviva Silverman representing a small electric train on which are arranged figurines embodying activists, poets, mediums, anarchists, philosophers... It is a reappropriation of a toy traditionally associated with little boys or collectors. The artist uses it to draw a form of genealogy of feminist and queer figures. The question of the temporality of the toy and the way in which it informs the child in the formation of his perception of the world is raised here. Yet another question placed at the heart of the exhibition."

What if you were a toy that was passed down between generations?
"Without hesitation, even if it is not pleasant, I think of the different weapons that can be found in the works of Matthieu Habérard or Francis Alÿs because they evoke for me the idea of transfer, with the objective here of training young people to defend the nation. The first is a wooden sword, a toy traditionally intended for young boys and with which they can develop the concept of violence. The swords imagined by Habérard are unusable and harmless..."

If you were a propaganda toy?
"There is this other artist who uses the houses of the "Sylvanian families": Déborah Delmar. With this idea that toys can deliver messages through their form. These individual houses of bourgeois format presented by the brand "Sylvanian" necessarily develop a rather restricted and standardized imagination on success or quite simply on what it means to live "a life". This is not necessarily a criticism of this model. But it is to show that, from childhood, certain toys participate in the development of this kind of ideals."

Finally, what if you were a transgressive toy?
“Without hesitation Monica Al Qadiri’s dinosaur. This work entitled “Seismic Song” represents a dinosaur placed on the ground in front of a microphone. He sings karaoke in an “autotuned” voice. The artist refers to this technology developed from waves, autotuned, which before being put at the service of the music industry was used by the oil industry to locate oil slicks located at depth. in the earth's layer. It highlights both the intensification of the production of plastic toys, the very origin of this plastic, and this transgression over time of the use of a technological discovery.