Guy de Cointet: The Theatricality of the Code

Abstract

Between 1973 and 1983, Los Angeles-based French artist Guy de Cointet staged more than twenty performances in which the exhibition became a stage and the interpretation of the work a theatrical event. Two central structural features are typical of his performances: on the one hand, an exploration of code via a cryptic artist’s book, a series of graphics, a painting or, further down the line, an abstract object ensemble; and on the other, theatricality as the modus operandi of his performances through which Cointet directs scenes in interpretation, explanation and decoding.Discussions on the response of French structuralism to Cointet’s œuvre are based on contemporary reviews which locate his works within experimental, “structuralist” theatre. It will be argued that the central dynamic consists in playing with language structures, which sets the relationship between props and the performers in motion. Both objects and subjects become elements of a symbolic order which, time and again, Cointet experimentalises and challenges afresh by simultaneously playing with differentiation, dislocation and substitution.This structuralist concept of the subject as well as the deliberate use of theatrical devices both underline the contrast between Cointet’s pieces and the performances of the dominant form: body art. The final thesis argues that salient theatricality, as the characteristic and form of his works–and furthermore, as an essentially contested concept in the context of art in the 1960s and 1970s–correlates to his exploration of codes. Cointet was never interested in uniqueness or singularity, but devoted his efforts to the generation of surfaces and stereotypes through duplication, transference and correlation.Guy de Cointet was born in Paris in 1934, moved to New York in 1965 and then, in 1968, he moved to Los Angeles whose art scene he influenced until his untimely death in 1983. His works and performances have most recently been shown at M-Museum, Leuven (2015), at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2013), at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2012), at the Getty Center (2011), at Tate Modern, London (2007), and elsewhere.