STEPHAN BREUER___ ARTIST
Stephan Breuer, a conceptual and interdisciplinary artist based in Paris, is renowned for his innovative projects in collaboration with France’s most significant monuments. For Breuer, architecture serves as a means to create new mental spaces. His artistic process is radical, existing in the digital, intellectual, and sensorial realms. By utilising technology, Breuer projects his mind and dematerialises the creative process, resulting in a visual language that is incredibly light and ethereal. John Saint Michel caught up for a conversation with Breuer for Fluoro at la place dauphine in Paris to discuss the limitations of his work, process, and new ventures.
One of Breuer’s notable achievements is his artwork titled “Looking for Paradise” which became the first artwork authenticated by an NFC chip to be archived by the Louvre Museum. In this groundbreaking endeavour, he digitised a painting by Rembrandt, specifically “The Archangel Raphael Leaving Tobias’ Family” from 1637, which belongs to the collection of Louis XV housed in the Louvre.
Breuer also made his mark in the world of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). His inaugural NFT piece, “Etērnål Pøng” from 2022, features a Renaissance Tabernacle framing a game of Pong. This unique artwork was auctioned for an impressive amount of 10,920 euros, coinciding with a historical milestone in France.
Fluoro (F): When I first joined your studio, “Ultra Light” was set to be installed in the Jardins du Palais Royal. What was involved in creating this never seen work?
Stephan Breuer (SB): Initially, I wanted to install this work in the desert which has its limitations. Suddenly, I switched and realised I was simply looking for sand. At the time, I had begun working with Satellite software, virtually flying around Paris, looking for sand in the landscape. From here I located the Jardin du Palais Royal and found these two perfectly symmetrical lines of sand and I decided that this garden would be my focus point.
The project was to work exclusively with airport lights, so I connected with airport engineers who explained how airport runaway lights work and function. From here, I selected one colour and decided to work with pure white as the light it emits is the most beautiful and uplifting — visible and sharp from kilometres away.
I wanted to achieve an idea that was minimal, powerful and precise. Precision is an important aspect of my work as my practice is purely mental. My work requires a lot of control but also a sense of surrender. The French refer to this as lâcher prise. Like to enter the void without knowing what to expect next. Kind of like the way Yves Klein worked. There is the great picture of him levitating above the ground which I was looking at the other day. On closer inspection of the photo, you see a group of people supporting his levitation with a piece of cloth. It’s somewhat a metaphor for life and friendship. Because usually, we see the performance without people holding the structure that supports him. I also think it’s interesting without the catcher in retrospect.
F: Describe your sense of space and territories within your practice.
SB: As an artist, we go into unknown territories. For me, this is the purpose of being an artist. We have to trust life, friends and so on. Every project I work on I reconfigure all my universe, relationships and understanding of certain subjects. Of course, it’s also about controlling parameters, mathematics etc. but it’s also about surrendering to the elements you cannot control. You have to ride the wave like a surfer.
This is the paradox of my work and is why I enjoy working between physical and virtual artworks. I can navigate between the two worlds. I feel that when I am working with physicality, it can be very heavy such as working with granite, clay or whatever material you choose as a medium.
Then from a political perspective, there is confronting the issue of hierarchies, red tape, institutions and political structures. In the virtual world you are unencumbered by any these elements. It’s more dreamlike and possibilities are endless. So the process feels like entering earth from orbit. Deleuze (Gilles Deleuze) often spoke about the idea of entering a mental space through some kind of explosion and fervour. You are dealing with so many elements at the same time. As an artist you either lack money or energy but you just have to keep working.
For me, this is the process of sublimation. To begin a work with the material and go towards the immaterial is much more difficult. Because in immateriality you are working with nothing but a concept. I guess all I have is a computer to develop ideas. There is freedom in this space.
F: How do you see the process of translating your concepts into something physical?
SB: I was thinking the other day that every project I am working on has a sensory aspect and is connected to my training in theatre and acting. The emotional and sensory experience I wanted to create with this work for instance in Ultra Light was to have two runways: one to take off and one to land, with the landscape of the garden. So the idea is to set you into the feeling of traveling mentally. Of course you are not in physical reality as you are in the same space. It’s about allowing yourself to travel within a static physical space.
Imagine, I close my eyes and I can travel anywhere. The idea was more to project your mind within yourself and come back renewed. A mental sensory experience about taking off and landing. The great Simone Veil described the sublimation like this:
Ce retour à Dieu peut justement se pratiquer comme un atterrissage à l’intérieur de soi, comme le suggère le terme hébreu traduit par «repos». (En hébreu moderne cette même racine signifie l’atterrissage d’un avion !) Concrètement, on peut le pratiquer en devenant attentif à son corps. Percevoir par la sensation corporelle sa position, son assise, son souffle, relie à l’ici et maintenant, ouvre au silence et à Dieu. Simone Veil.
“This return to God can precisely be practiced as a landing inside oneself, as suggested by the Hebrew term translated as “rest”. (In modern Hebrew this same root means the landing of a plane.) Concretely, you can practice it by becoming attentive to your body. Perceiving by the bodily sensation his position, his sitting, his breath, connects to the here and now, opens to silence and to God.” Simone Veil.
This is what I wanted to achieve. To explain to people the possibility of the self, in the same way we speak about ecology or energy. You don’t have to go Tokyo to experience Tokyo. Like when Pierre Berge talks about an Yves Saint Laurent collection in India, he has never been to India.
For me all the locations I dream about applying my work to, I have never been there physically. Sometimes I do, but maybe once. I usually work with photos and try and understand the parameters of the space mentally.
The paradox here is how can you develop a project without expending too much energy. I try and make people understand that your mind is your own airline. That the mind can work as a spaceship. How do you create limits for yourself through your process of limitless and immaterial consciousness?
All artists must create limits. I usually work with Apple Keynote when creating. It’s very chic, minimal and easy to navigate. I have the software on my phone and all of my devices. Ideas are sketched and they sync wherever I am physically — in a city, in an aeroplane or from my bed. The software is great as it restricts you from being somewhat vulgar and over complicating your thoughts and working in pure geometry.
I love working from my bed as it is the closest place I have to dream. So I am with my computer or phone, in a constant state of lucidity. A space between dreaming and wakefulness. This is the mental space I like to be in when I am projecting my thoughts into any new projects.
F: Describe your next project.
SB: I am currently working on an exhibition in Rome, Italy. I recently travelled there for the first time and was really impressed with the city and scale. I met with the director of the national museum in Rome, Stephane Verger and he introduced me to a secret room in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Altemps. Inside the museum, I was presented with a secret gallery that has never been open to the public and fell in love with the space.
I usually like to work with these historical spaces as I feel like it’s a connection to the past, without knowing why. It’s some kind of energy. It’s really like falling in love. You just connect to the memory of the space. Every space has information and codes.
For this project, I want to explore this space of ecstasy. Faces that look up. I selected a work of Carlo Dolci, Allegoria della Pazienza II, 1677.
I understand that my works are often digital and are also really suited to national moments as they do not interfere with the heritage or cause any damage, so they can co-exist.
F: How did this evolve in terms of materialising?
SB: From here I took some pictures and returned to Paris with a new mental space to play with. The idea was to transform this space into a cloud room with central skylight.
In the last few years I have worked with historical icons because they have the ability to transcend time in the evolution of humanity and want to bring them into the modern world with a digital surface that is reflective of light. It’s more about the surface.
I am fascinated by this idea of reflection. Really, we are looking at light in the digital sphere. On our phones, screens etc. What is this space and where does it exist? It exists in many places and stored in clouds and information systems.
Like when we speak to each on a zoom call in different countries, does it have a location in the physical world? Where do realities exist as we are connected at the speed of light. It’s really about exploring digital space and in this space we become atemporal beings.
At the same time I was working on this project, Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch of the Metaverse, which I personally like. I was ecstatic because it’s how my mind works. What I am interested in is to confront the limits of the physical work with the limitless potential of the digital age. For me the Metaverse is an awakened dream that never stops.
F: What tools have you created to make this integration possible?
SB: I am currently developing a production company called Amor Mundi that allows the documentation of my exhibitions that can be compatible with VR and blockchain technology allowing people to experience my works and research through this dimension. I want to work with new technologies like the new Apple Vision Pro.
This is also where NFT’s come into place. It’s a digital record of the work exisiting. For most people, the blockchain is a technology for the future but for me is a database and a place of memory including the past.
It is about preserving the memory of the exhibition.
F: How does the virtual world inspire you?
SB: It’s a new world. I feel like we have explored so much in this lifetime. We know the Amazon and other great wonders. Now we have the ability to explore new worlds. It’s our job as artists. To build a new reality. Not only now do you have access to these worlds but you are able to interact with them.
It excites me to be part of virtual territories and to participate in the conversation of a new world. How can we explore new spaces that are not physical, that exist in their own NON-SPACE?
I was born in Nice. There is a school called the Nouveau Réalisme and I think I am a new un-realist, like the software program that is used to create these virtual worlds called, Unreal.
How does Stephan Breuer feel about the evolution of artificial intelligence?
“AI is like any tool. Take a hammer for example. You can choose to build a house or smash someones skull in. There is nothing purely good or bad. Maybe a flower.”
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Conversation with John Saint Michel.
Images supplied by Stephan Breuer.
“I first met Stephan Breuer in Paris in 2017. At the time, he had a friendly beagle dog called ‘Biggie’ and worked from a studio on the prestigious avenue Montaigne in the golden triangle of Paris. Enamoured by his crisp English (Stephan studied as an actor in Beverly Hills) and passion for decadence, atemporality, minimalism and national monuments, I agreed to extend work alongside him in studio on two projects.
One project involved an installation of what he would describe as an ‘immaterial work’ entitled “Ultra Light” set to be staged at the Palais Royal in Paris. This work was never realised. The other, an installation of a contemporary work entitled “Sun” for the re-opening of the Musée Franco-Américain du Château de Blérancourt in the Compiègne region of France. The chateau, formerly a hospital for soldiers during the First World War under the direction of Heiress Anne Morgan, which has now transformed into a museum housing a collection of art and beautiful gardens designed by landscape architect Madison Cox (widower of Pierre Bergè).
Stephan’s ability to immerse himself in the realms of the sublime, minimalism, and immateriality broadened my horizons, introducing me to themes of surface, technology, and futurism. Through him, I discovered a Paris known to only a select few. His courage in challenging taboos within the contemporary French art scene, along with his resilience, opened up the rigid and traditional art world in France to embrace NFTs and immateriality. Since our meeting and forming a close friendship, I have witnessed Stephan’s ideas gaining traction as the world gravitates towards artificial intelligence and technological advancements in emerging art market economies. Stephan is a truly unique experience, an artist whose voice resonates with those willing to listen, even if it requires you to bleed a little. Just as the avant-garde spirit always perseveres.”
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