historical ubuweb

IRIS-TIME UNLIMITED | 1962-1970 Curated and introduced by Ulysse Geissler [All texts are PDFs, approximately 12mb each] n°1 October 1962, François DALLEGRET n°3 December 1962, "Christmas Wish" from Iris Clert Gallery n°5 April 1963, About April's Salon n°6 May1963, Bill COPLEY n°7 June 1963, Ad REINHARDT n°8 July 1963, Gaston CHAISSAC n°9 October 1963, Klaus GEISSLER n°10 November 1963, Pol BURY n°11 January 1964, Van HOEYDONCK+ New year wishes n°12 February 1964, Lucio FONTANA n°13 March 1964, Marcel BARBEAU n°14 April 1964, Yolande FIEVRE n°15 Mai 1964, Leon GOLUB n°16 October 1964, Harold STEVENSON n°17 November 1964, Van THIENEN n°18 March 1965, "Neo-Individualistes" exhibition between Paris and Berlin n°19 May 1965, Roy ADZAK n°21 October 1965, Raymond HAINS n°22 November 1965, BRÔ n°23 December 1965, Klaus GEISSLER n°26 October 1966, SPECIAL EDITION FOR THE USA n°27 February 1967, URIBURU n°28 March 1967, Waldo BALART n°29 May 1967, Boris VANSIER n°30 June 1967, Toto MEYLAN n°31 December 1967, Iris CLERT's Christmas wishes n°32 Février 1968, FARHI n°33 May 1968, Harold STEVENSON n°35 November 1969, Jacques MIZRAHI n°36 February 1970, Patrick MAZERY About Iris-Time Limited The Iris Clert gallery opened in February of 1956 at 3 rue des Beaux-Arts in the heart of Saint Germain des Prés which was, at the time, a home for avant-garde galleries. At the time, the rivalry between the Paris and New York schools made the Parisian galleries cautious about showing new young artists. Even though Clert's experimental way of running her gallery didn't prevent New York from becoming the 20th century's capital of the avant-garde, her enormous curiosity and her openness, in combination with her eclectic shows made it a unique, free space for dozens of major artists on the Paris scene. Clert's first well-known show was the Micro-Salon held in April of 1957, which exhibited more than 100 Parisian artists. Among them were well-known artists (Arp, Ernst, Picasso, Hartung) mixed with total outsiders (Geissler, Arman, César, Tinguely, Klein, Takis). Clert's idea that artworks needn't be judged on solely aesthetic grounds, but also on its concept or genuineness of motivation led her to organize Jean-Jacques Lebel's (France's father of the happening) 1957 show of Yves Klein's "Le vide" , which showed nothing but an "Intangible sensible space" (Espace de sensiblité matérielle), a blank gallery in 1958, and two years later Arman's exhibition "Le plein," a space filled with trash. For Takis's "Man in the space" exhibition, the young British poet Sinclair Beyles performed in the gallery, hanging from a metal rod, repeating the words " I'm not a human being, I am a work of art by Takis". In addition to discovering and exhibiting the most important French artists of the 50s and 60s, Clert also ran the alternative "Biennale off" in Venice in a 17th century palazzo during the official Biennale. She also created the first mobile museum with her heavy Plexiglas truck she called "Stardart." From 1962 to 1975 Iris Clert published a two page newspaper titled "IRIS-TIME UNLIMITED". Each issue was devoted to one of her artists. The newspaper also included critical essays, photographs, advertisements, horoscopes, and gossip from famous visitors to the gallery during the show's opening. The scope of the paper -- and its importance as an ephemeral historical artifact -- tracks the narrative of modern art during the period. Clert died in 1986 on the French Riviera forgotten by the most. Nevertheless the so called "Most advanced gallery in the world" which offered to "buy today the work of tomorrow" undoubtedly let a permanent mark on history of art, permitting numerous artists to realize ambitious projects when nobody else would have trusted them. Ahead of her time, one can claim that her attitude anticipated the rise of Guy Debord and The Situationists, who came to prominence a few years later. -- Ulysse Geissler