Mathieu Jacques‘ Projet Populaire, currently showing at Arprim, is a experiment in cultural democracy. The project unites an artist and the general public to create the ultimate artwork: one which is loved by everyone.

Mathieu Jacques started his project with a survey. Armed with a camera and a microphone he interviewed artists as well as regular citizens about their take on contemporary art, what art means to them, and what their idea of the ‘ideal artwork’ would be. The resulting short films are projected on the back wall at Arprim, a murmuring hum of the collective.

Distilled from the many interviews are a series of quotes which highlight the most popular sentiments about art. Jacques turned these texts into a series of small-format screen prints. The lines of typewritten text look as though they have been cut out with an exacto knife and then transposed onto a different paper, making the words float in tiny speech bubbles in space.
There are hundreds of sheets of paper with these quotes – some framed on the walls, some spread out on a long stretch of tables in the centre of the exhibition space. Visitors to the gallery are invited to rummage through the papers and collate the statements and ideas they most agree with. The selected quotes can then be placed in a folder onto which the visitor can write his or her name, effectively contributing to the democratic process.

The exhibition culminates in an assembly open to the public where everyone can vote collectively on the ideal art project. Jacques’ Projet Populaire raises an interesting question – should the value of art be determined by the tastes of the majority? Come to Arprim on March 30, 2012 and cast your vote.

Arprim, space 426
Mathieu Jacques
Projet Populaire
March 3 – April 7, 2012
www.arprim.org