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Michel Butor and friends – exhibition at the National and University Library

    Michel Butor and friends – exhibition at the National and University Library



    Michel Butor and friends – exhibition at the National Library in collaboration with the Icelandic Arts Festival, Monday, May 26th at 4 pm

    An exhibition of the works of Michel Butor and twelve artists at the Reykjavík Arts Festival will open at the National Library on Monday, May 26 at 4 p.m.

    Michel Butor is one of the leading authors of a group that revolutionized the novel in France in the 1960s under the banner of the new novel ("nouveau roman"). Butor stopped writing novels in the 1960s. Since then, he has written a great deal of essays, poems, travelogues, and all kinds of experimental texts.

    For decades he has focused on texts for visual art books, has produced numerous such works with a great many visual artists, and has lectured on visual art widely. Therefore, it can be said that Butor's literary career is twofold, on the one hand his "former life" as a novelist and on the other his texts for visual art books, along with all sorts of other texts.

    The curator is Bernard Alligand, who has selected for the exhibition the works of twelve artists who have collaborated with Michel Butor. The initiative for the project lies with poet Sigurður Pálsson, who has also collaborated with Bernard Alligand. Sigurður and Alligand exhibited their first joint work at the National Library in 2007. The project is a collaboration between the National Library of Iceland – University Library, the Iceland Academy of the Arts, the University of Iceland, the French Embassy, the Alliance française and the Reykjavík Arts Festival. The exhibition runs until August 29.

    Students of Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir and Jón Proppé at the University of Iceland and the Iceland Academy of the Arts are working on works that are similar to the book works.

    Helga Kristín Gunnarsdóttir welcomes guests, and addresses are delivered by French Ambassador Marc Bouteiller, Sigurður Pálsson, and Michel Butor.

    Michel Butor and Bernard Alligand discuss their work in an open seminar with students on May 28th, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM.

    See more on the Reykjavík Arts Festival website.

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