Alain Fleischer

Director,
Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains

Biographical note

Before devoting himself to the world of images (cinema, photography, installations), Alain Fleischer studied literature, linguistics, semiology and anthropology. His immense body of photographic and cinematographic work has been the subject of several retrospectives in France and abroad and he has represented France at the international biennials in Sydney (Australia), Gwangju and Busan (Korea), and Havana (Cuba). He is also the author of some fifty books, including novels, collections of short stories and essays on photography and cinema. After teaching at the Université de Paris III, the Université du Québec à Montréal, and various visual arts and film schools, he was commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture to found Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains, which he has directed since 1997.

Biography

Alain Fleischer was born in Paris in 1944 to a Hungarian father and a Franco-Spanish mother. He grew up in a multilingual and multi-accented world.

In Paris he attended the Parc des Princes primary school, and then the Lycée Claude Bernard, before studying at the Sorbonne and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.

Baccalaureate (experimental sciences and philosophy), with special mention. BA and MA in literature and (MA thesis on Les Liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos); BA and MA. in theatrical studies (dissertation on Odet de Turnèbe); BA and MA in Spanish (MA thesis comparing the nominal forms of verbs in French and Spanish); BA and MA in linguistics (MA thesis on semantic anomalies in La cantatrice chauve by Eugène Ionesco), BA, MA and DEA in animal biology (MA thesis on the scientific protocols in ethological cinema). Doctorate in semiology (thesis on the semiological analysis of the rules of ball games).

Alain Fleischer taught at the Université Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle (DERCAV, Department of Film and Audiovisual studies) from 1979 to 1985. He gave courses at the Université Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) in 1992 and 1993, and continued on a regular basis until 2013, while leading doctoral seminars and lecturing.

In 1975 he was appointed as a professor with tenure at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Nice (Villa Arson), and, in 1979 as professor at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Paris-Cergy, in both cases by official competition.

He was visiting professor at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie d’Arles in 1982-83. Head of tuition for the first term at Idhec (Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques), the future Fémis (Fondation Européenne des Métiers de l’Image et du Son). Member of several selection juries for art school teachers and for entrance exams to Idhec/Fémis, he has chaired several juries for the DNSEP (Diplôme National Supérieur d’Études Plastiques).

Holder of grants awarded by the Groupe de Recherche et d’Essais Cinématographiques (GREC-CNC) in 1969 and 1982.
Winner of the Villa Medici hors-les-murs (1983) and Léonard de Vinci (1984) grants.
Prize-winner at the French Academy in Rome and resident at the Villa Medici from 1985 to 1987.
Chosen by the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, from 1987 to 1989.
Doctor Honoris Causa of the Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada); Doctor Honoris Causa of the European Humanities University in Vilnius (Lithuania).

Alain Fleischer was tasked by the French Ministry of Culture with conceiving and steering the project for Le Fresnoy-Studio National des Arts Contemporains, which he has directed since its opening in 1997.

He is currently overseeing its transformation into StudioLab International, where the visual arts will be studied in conjunction with sciences.

Alain Fleischer is a writer, filmmaker, visual artist and photographer.

LITERATURE

Alain Fleischer has contributed to numerous newspapers and magazines, including Artpress, Beaux-Arts magazine, Les Cahiers du musée national d’Art moderne (Paris), Les Écrits and Parachute (Montréal).

He is the author of over fifty books (novels, short stories, essays, theatre) published, among others, by Gallimard, Le Seuil, Fayard, Actes Sud, Grasset, Le Cherche-Midi, Fata Morgana, Leo Scheer and Verdier.

Alain Fleischer won the Georges Dumézil Prize of the Académie Française for his book L’accent, une langue fantôme.
Winner of the Bernheim Prize for his work as a writer.
Winner of the WISO Prize (Women International Sionist Organisation) for his book Moi, Sandor F.

Voir la sélection des œuvres

NOVELS

Là pour ça, Flammarion, 1986
Quatre voyageurs, Le Seuil, 2000
Les trapézistes et le rat, Le Seuil, 2001
Les ambitions désavouées, Le Seuil, 2003
Les angles morts, Le Seuil, 2003
La hache et le violon, Le Seuil, 2004
Immersion, Gallimard, 2005
L’amant en culottes courtes, Le Seuil 2006
Prolongations, Gallimard, 2008
Court-Circuit, Le Cherche-Midi, 2009
Moi, Sandor F., Fayard, 2009
Imitation, Actes Sud, 2010
Alma Zara, Grasset, 2015
Effondrement, Le Cherche-Midi, 2015
Le Récidiviste, Le Seuil, 2019
La vie extraordinaire de mon auto, Verdier, 2021
Du même auteur, Joca seria, 2023

SHORT STORIES

Grands hommes dans un parc, Antigone, 1989
Quelques obscurcissements, Deyrolle-Verdier, 1991
Pris au mot, Deyrolle-Verdier, 1992
La nuit sans Stella, Actes Sud, 1995
La femme qui avait deux bouches, et autres récits, Le Seuil, 1999
La seconde main, Actes Sud, 2001
Mummy, mummies, Verdier, 2002
La femme couchée par écrit, Léo Scheer, 2004
La traversée de l’Europe par les forêts, Virgile, 2004
599 (essai, nouvelle et photographies), Contrasto, 2007
L’ascenseur, Le Cherche-Midi, 2007
Descente dans les villes, Fata Morgana, 2009
Sous la dictée des choses, Le Seuil, 2011
Conférenciers en situation délicate, Léo Scheer, 2012

La résistance du paysage (nouvelle et photographies), Voix Editions, 2014
Petites histoires d’infini, Gallimard, 2021
La femme qui avait deux bouches (édition augmentée définitive) L’Arbre vengeur, 2023
Risibles malentendus, L’arbre vengeur, 2023

ESSAIS (and mixed volumes)

Faire le noir-Notes et études sur le cinéma, Marval, 1996
L’art d’Alain Resnais, Centre Pompidou, 1998
La pornographie-Une idée fixe de la photographie, La Musardine, 2000
La vitesse d’évasion, Léo Scheer, 2003
Eros/Hercule, Pour une érotique du sport, La Musardine, 2005
L’accent, une langue fantôme, Le Seuil, 2005
Egon Schiele, le dernier tableau, Editions du Huitième jour, 2008
Le carnet d’adresses, Le Seuil, 2008
Les laboratoires du temps-Ecrits sur le cinéma et la photographie 1, Galaade éditions, 2008
L’empreinte et le tremblement-Ecrits sur le cinéma et la photographie 2, Galaade éditions, 2009
Caméras, Actes Sud Junior, 2009
Paul Gauguin-La maison du jouir, Editions du Huitième jour, 2010
Simon Hantaï-Vers l’empreinte immatérielle, Invenit Editions, 2010
Réponse du muet au parlant-En retour à Jean-Luc Godard, Le Seuil, 2011
La pose de Dieu dans l’atelier du peintre-Ecrits sur le cinéma et la photographie 3, et autres textes, Galaade Editions, 2011
L’impératif utopique-Souvenirs d’un pédagogue, Galaade Editions, 2012

ESSAIS (suite)


Sade scénario, Le Cherche-Midi, 2013
Retour au noir, Le cinéma et la Shoah : Quand ça tourne autour, Editions Léo Scheer, 2016
Faire œuvre à chaque instant (in Danielle, livre de photographies) Edizione Peliti associati, Rome, 2020
L’aventure générale (catalogue de l’exposition), Éditions CentQuatre-Paris, 2020
Alain Fleischer, Les grands entretiens, Artpress, 2020
Le cinéma sans cinéma, Fragments autobiographiques 10 (in coffret DVD), Editions Montparnasse, 2021
Pierre Molinier, ou l’inceste extreme, Louison editions, 2022

THEATRE

Tour d’horizon-Théâtre de la fin, Léo Scheer, 2003
La vision d’Avigdor, ou le Marchand de Venise corrigé, Le Cherche-Midi, 2008

AS EDITOR

Plasticité, Signe des temps, Éditions Léo Scheer, 1998
Vitesses limites, Éditions du Seuil, 2008
Lumières des Lumière, Éditions du Fresnoy-Studio national
Le rêve des formes, Éditions du Seuil, 2018

CINEMA

Alain Fleischer is the author and director of some three hundred and fifty films (experimental cinema, short fictions and features, art documentaries).

He made his first film, Un film inachevé, a medium-length fiction, in 1962 at the age of 18, with a group of school friends. He went on to make several experimental short films and various film essays, such as travel diaries (Un hiver à Majorque, 1965). For his first feature-length film, Montage IV, he was the first recipient of a grant from the Groupe de Recherches et d’Essais Cinématographiques (GREC, Centre National de la Cinématographie), and received help from Jean Rouch and Henri Langlois, who organised the first screening at the Cinémathèque Française. The film was later screened by Jacques Robert at the Avignon Festival.

Alain Fleischer has been awarded three production grants by the Centre National de la Cinématographie, under its “Avances sur recettes” scheme: for the features Les Rendez-vous en forêt, 1971, Zoo Zéro, 1977, and Rome Roméo, 1988.

Alain Fleischer’s films have been shown at the leading international festivals: Cannes, Venice, Locarno, Berlin, Rotterdam, Toronto and Montreal (Festival des Films du Monde, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma).

Since 1990 he has featured regularly in the FIFA (Festival International des Films sur l’Art) in Montreal, winning several prizes:

Alain Fleischer’s films have been shown in retrospectives and homages at the:

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ART DOCUMENTARIES (selected):

Quelques activités de Christian B., production indépendante, 1969-70
Pierre Klossowski-Portrait de l’artiste en souffleur, Écran-Document, 1982
L’art d’exposer-Le musée Condé à Chantilly, Centre Pompidou, 1984
Au fil du labyrinthe : Quel musée pour le XXème siècle ? Centre Pompidou, 1985
Ciné-roman, L’art roman en Basse-Normandie, les Films Constance, 1985
Boltanski par Fleischer, Les Films Constance, 1985
Longs débarcadères (sur Anne et Patrick Poirier), les Films Constance, 1986
A la recherche de Christian B., HPS Films/Arte, 1989
Daniel Cordier, Le regard d’un amateur, Arion/Centre Pompidou, 1990
La grande galerie du Louvre, Un monde parallèle, les Films d’Ici, 1988
Le Louvre Imaginaire, Les Films d’Ici/France 2/Channel Four/NHK/Rai Tre, 1992-93
Un musée dans tous ses états-Le palais des Beaux-arts de Lille, Bizance Films, 1994
Le cow-boy et l’indien, Quelques rendez-vous avec Jean-Jacques Lebel, Les Films d’ici, 1994
Un tournage à la campagne, Les Films d’ici/Cinémathèque française, 1995
Pierre Klossowski ou l’éternel détour, Les Films d’Ici/ France 3, 1996
Un monde agité, Les Films d’Ici/Cinémathèque française, 1998
Le Roi Rodin, Artline Films, 1998
Morceaux de conversation avec Jean-Luc Godard, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/Les Films d’Ici/Montparnasse Editions, 2005
Du côté de Vitebsk, Le Fresnoy-Studio national, 2006
Le frivole et le complexe, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/Mobilier national/ministère de la Culture, 2007
Centre Pompidou, l’espace d’une Odyssée, Artline films/France 5/Centre Pompidou, 2007
Anthony Caro, la sculpture comme religion, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/ Ville de Bourbourg/DRAC Nord/Pas de Calais, 2008
Eugène Leroy, La voie royale de la peinture, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/MuBa de Tourcoing, 2009
Immersion, Un solo de Carolyn Carlson, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/CNDC Roubaix, 2010
Une folle idée (hommage au FIFA), Le Fresnoy-Studio national/Hexagram-UQÀM/Centre culturel canadien de Paris, 2011
Naissance d’un musée : Le Louvre-Lens, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/Conseil régional du Nord/Pas-de-Calais, 2012-13
Brancusi, Artline/Arte/Centre Pompidou/Le Fresnoy-Studio national, 2013
L’Europe de Rubens, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/musée du Louvre, 2013

ART DOCUMENTARIES (suite) :

Le printemps du Sacre, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/Orchestre nationale de Lille, 2013
Different trains (le quatuor de Steeve Reich), Le Fresnoy-Studio national /Conservatoire national de Gennevilliers, 2014
Quatre pièces pour escaliers, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/Palais de Chaillot, 2014
Grandeur des petits musées, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/Conseil régional du Nord/Pas-de-Calais, 2014
Mille et un soleils, Le Louvre Abou Dhabi, Agence Jean Nouvel/Le Fresnoy, 2014/2019
Éclats de mémoire, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/Mémorial de la Shoah, 2015
Claude Simon. L’inépuisable chaos, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/Centre Pompidou, 2015

Regards et gestes de la curiosité, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Angers, 2015
Un Palais pour les idées, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/Associazione Ugo Matania à Naples, 2015
Formulaire (sur les objets mathématiques de l’Institut Poincaré), Le Fresnoy, 2017
L’intelligence de la main, 18 films en réalité virtuelle, Fondation Bettencourt-Schueller, 2018
Minutes de silence, centre national de la Danse, Palais de Chaillot, 2018
Un art de la mesure, Ibos & Vitard architectes, Cité de l’architecture et du Patrimoine/Le Fresnoy-Studio national, 2019
La mémoire et l’imagination, trois designers dans les Hauts de France, Le Fresnoy-Studio national /Lille Design, 2020
J’ai retrouvé Christian B., Artline production, 2020
Les oliviers, Piliers du temps, HW Architecture, Biennale de Venise, Le Fresnoy-Studio National, 2021
Le ballet des Porcelaines, Palazzo Grassi, Venise, Musée Capodimonte, Naples, Le Fresnoy-Studio National, 2021
Soleils noirs, le Louvre-Lens, Le Fresnoy-Studio national, 2021
A roof for silence (Venise, Palais de Tokyo, Abbaye de Jumièges), HW Architecture, Biennale de Venise, Le Fresnoy-Studio National, 2021
Patrouille de nuit, Le Fresnoy-Studio National, Orchestre d’harmonie de Lille-Fives, 2022
Juifs d’Orient, Une histoire multimillénaire, Le Fresnoy-Studio National et IMA Paris, 2022.
Quelques rendez-vous avec Nadja, Musée des Beaux-arts de Rouen, Le Fresnoy-Studio national, 2022
Constantin Brancusi, Métamorphose de la sculpture, Arte, Centre Pompidou, Artline Films, Le Fresnoy-Studio national, 2023
Nan Goldin à Stockholm, HW Architecture, Le Fresnoy-Studio National, 2023

FICTION FEATURE FILMS (selected):

Les rendez-vous en forêt, Argos Films, 1971
Dehors-Dedans, Stephan Films, 1974
Zoo Zéro, Cinéma 9, 1977-78
Rome Roméo, Arion, 1989
Grands artistes observés par un veilleur de nuit, Cercle Bleu, 1992

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS (selected):

Montage IV, Groupe de Recherche et d’Essais Cinématographiques, 1968
Le règlement, independent production, 1969
Un an et un jour, independent production, 1970
Bout à bout, independent production, 1972
Seine Amazone, independent production, 1976
Le Roi de Bornéo, Centre Pompidou, 1980
La foudre dans le parc, Centre Pompidou, 1980
L’aventure générale, independent production/Centre Pompidou, 1982-84
Demi-frère, double portrait, Groupe de Recherches et d’Essais Cinématographiques, 1984
L’homme dans les draps, independent production, 1993
L’homme aux deux visages, independent production, 1990-2012
Hitchcock recadré, Cinémathèque Française, 1994
L’homme du Pincio, independent production, 1993

COLLABORATIONS

Alain Fleischer contributed to the following films by Christian Boltanski: Tout ce dont je me souviens, 1970, Comment pouvait-on imaginer, 1970, and La femme qui sourit, 1970.

He also contributed to films by Sarkis, Bernar Venet, Danielle Schirman, etc.

PORTRAITS

There have been two television portraits of Alain Fleischer, one made for France 3, the other for Arte.

As a writer, he is the subject of two films made by Mario Côté in Montréal: La chambre qui attend, A ciel ouvert.

A DVD box set published by Editions Montparnasse in 2021 contains some thirty of his films (features, art films, experimental cinema) and a booklet about his work in cinema.

VISUAL ARTS AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Belonging to the same generation as his friends Christian Boltanski, Annette Messager, Sophie Calle, and André Cadéré., Alain Fleischer originally became known as an artist and photographer, with numerous group and solo shows, initially in alternative spaces, from 1972 onwards.

In 1980 he presented his first installations involving film projects at the Biennale Internationale d’Art de Paris. In 1982 he exhibited his first big photographic compositions at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and, in the same year, had a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne.

Alain Fleischer has since exhibited in a considerable number of museums, art centres and galleries in France and other countries, including the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Russia, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, United Kingdom, Cuba, the United States, Japan, China, Korea, England, Canada and Australia.

He has been represented by the following galleries: in Paris, by: Studio 666, Galerie Jean et Jacques Donguy, Galerie Claire Burrus, Galerie Michèle Chomette, Galerie Léo Scheer, Galerie de France; in Lyon, by Galerie Le Réverbère; in the United States, by Jayne Baum Gallery (New York) and Cherryl Haines Gallery (San Francisco); in Montreal, by the Optica Gallery; in Rome, by Galleria Il Millenio, Galleria Massimo Riposati, Galleria L’immagine e la Mente and Galleria Il Cembalo; in Japan, by the Inoue gallery (Yokohama).

As an artist and photographer, he has had retrospectives at the:

In 1995 he was invited by the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles for a solo show at the Chapelle du Méjean and a multimedia programme Lumières croisées, in the Roman Theatre.

Alain Fleischer has represented France at the international art biennials of Qwanju (Korea), Sydney (Australia), Havana (Cuba) and Busan (Korea).

The cultural services of the French Embassy in New York have organised and put on a programme of Alain Fleischer’s films.

Alain Fleischer has taken part in numerous group shows in France and abroad, including, most recently:

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RECENT SOLO SHOWS:

  • Choses lues, Choses vues, Bibliothèque Nationale (Salle Labrouste), 2010
  • Centre d’Art Le Lux, Valence, 2013/14
  • Fantômes et Fantasmes, Forteresse de Salses, 2014
  • La lecture, Abbaye Saint-Riquier, 2016
  • L’art dans les chapelles, St-Jean de Moustier, Brittany, 2017
  • Mouvements secrets des images fixes, Galerie Municipale Jean Collet, Vitry, 2017
  • Passages clandestins, Centre des Arts Enghien-les-Bains, 2017
  • Je ne suis qu’une image, Hôtel des Arts, Toulon, 2018
  • L’image qui revient, Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre, Nice 2019
  • Je ne suis qu’une image, Galleria Il Cembalo, Rome, 2019
  • L’aventure générale, CentQuatre-Paris 2020/2021
  • Pour la forme, Métaphormophes et autres chimères, La Fabrique Centre d’art, Montreuil, 2023

Alain Fleischer has produced public commissions for: the City of Nantes (in collaboration with Christian Boltanski), the Ile-de-France Region and SNCF (accompanied by a series of exhibitions in Juvisy: station, art centre, Musée Camille Flammarion), the Franche-Comté Region (accompanied by a series of exhibitions in Besançon: Musée d’Art, Fort Beauregard, Galerie Traje, and around the region: Centre d’Art in Recologne-les-Rey, Musée de Vesoul and Musée de Belfort); the City of Paris for the “Embellir Paris” operation, Conservatoire Georges Bizet, Paris 75020.

Alain Fleischer has worked with architect Jean Nouvel on:

  • Audiovisual devices for the Jean Nouvel exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, Paris
  • Photographs for the suites of the Puerta de America Hotel in Madrid
  • Presentational texts for architectural compositions, theoretical texts for the Grand Paris project
  • Giant photographs for three ceilings in the Montpellier Town Hall.
  • The projects for The Line (tower and airport, Saudi Arabia, 2022/23

Alain Fleischer has worked with Daniel Dobbels on several choreographic shows, and in 2012 he conceived and wrote the libretto for La fille qui danse (performed at the Festival d’Avignon, Forum du Blanc-Mesnil, etc.). he worked with Daniel Dobbels during the latter’s residency at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris, in 2014 (production of a film).

Alain Fleischer designed the staging and produced the images for:

  • La Confessions impudique, an opera by Bernard Cavanna
  • Eau, a ballet by Carolyn Carlson (premiered at the Opéra de Lille)
  • Finoglio-Un baroque napolitain, design of the exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille.
  • In 2013 he was artistic director for the Claude Simon exhibition at the Centre Pompidou (BPI).
  • he wrote the libretto and designed the staging for I.D., an opera by Arnaud Petit, 2019.

Alain Fleischer has given talks on art history and the theory of art, cinema and architecture in Paris (Centre Pompidou, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Galeries du Jeu de Paume, Ircam, Cité du Patrimoine – Palais de Chaillot, Ecole Normale Supérieure), CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales); Lyon (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Villa Gillet); Arles (Association Française des Traducteurs Littéraires, Ecole Nationale de la Photographie, Musée Réatu); Montréal (UQÀM, Musée d’Art Contemporain); Quebec (Université Laval); Barcelona (University of Barcelona); Tokyo (Tokyo University); New York (New York University and School of Visual Arts, etc.); Boston (Harvard University); North Carolina (Duke University); Beijing (Chinese Academy of Fine Arts, CAFA); Minsk, (National Library of Belarus); Orvieto (University): Rome (University of Fine Arts); Rio de Janeiro (University).

Alain Fleischer has organised and co-organised seminars in France (Plasticité, signes des temps, Le Fresnoy-Studio national; Les figures de l’idiot, Le Fresnoy-Studio national ; Vitesses limite, Grand Palais, Paris ; Penser la catastrophe, Le Fresnoy-Studio national ; Présenter l’irreprésentable, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes/Passage de Retz ; Lumières des Lumière, Le Fresnoy-Studio national/UQAM ; Le rêve des formes, Collège de France ; L’humain qui vient, Palais de l’UNESCO, etc.), and Canada (Ensemble, Ailleurs, Ryerson University, Toronto, Les inventions de la lumière, Ryerson University, Toronto, and Les lumières de la Ville, UQÀM, Montreal, in 2013).

Alain Fleischer was artistic director of the exhibition Dans la nuit des images, put on at the Grand Palais, Paris, in 2008.

He curated and designed the exhibition Let’s dance at Le Fresnoy-Studio National, in 2011).

A number of dissertations and theses have been written about Alain Fleischer’s work as artist and photographer, notably by students at the universities Paris I and Paris VIII.

Several catalogues of Alain Fleischer’s work have been published with texts, among others, by Daniel Arasse, Philippe Dagen, Régis Durand, Hubert Damisch, Georges Didi-Huberman, Daniel Dobbels, Jean-Luc Monterosso, Michel Nuridsany, Dominique Païni, Alain Sayag, Didier Semin, Daniel Soutif…

Alain Fleischer has published several books of photographs:

  • Kafka, collection Les lieux de l’écrit, Marval)
  • 599, Editions Contrasto, Rome
  • Purcell, Quilter, Warlock, Actes Sud,
  • Danielle, Peliti Associati, Rome.
  • Issue no. 62 of the Photo Poche collection is dedicated to his photography.