GUFO

The 9th HOOT pops up for the winter 2022-23, but the conception of this issue started well over a year ago at our beloved Plage Avant (Traduttore, traditore’s studio, Marseille). We met Sophie T. Lvoff at many openings and art related events in Marseille these last few years, having a practice that appears mainly as photography, Gufo got curious about all the processes that she uses which involve sound, installation, writing… and more. She welcomed us in her studio of the city of Marseille where she recently settled. We found out about the “trompe-l’œil” of this iconic checkered table, witnessed the installations of translucid and colored objects evolving on the sunny wall, and looked through her photographic chamber it’s called a large-format camera, but this is funny… For this issue, Sophie suggested to interview another artist, Moyra Davey, who also works in photography and writing, and appeared to have shared experiences too.

The topics of everyday life, intimacy that images embody in both their works, take another dimension as soon as their thoughts, voices and writing expand and express the entirety of their gestures. This issue is the first interview between two native English-speaking artists, who have ties to the French language from childhood. The penpals are the main characters of that encounter where we are very welcome to join in their very generous conversations. This is only an excerpt of a long and well referenced correspondence.

« Et quelle place donnes-tu à la conversation dans ta pratique ?

La parole prend énormément de place. Peut-être que plus récemment, la question du son comme moyen de faire, de créer du lien est apparue. Une sorte de lien invisible qui résonne entre les personnes. Et puis, la parole. L’échange devient le premier moyen de faire contact. La conversation est la première étape à la construction de mes performances, de mes sculptures. La conversation c’est ce qui me permet de rebondir. »

Invités par HOOT, Inventory et Giselle’s Books se sont entretenus autour de leurs projets de publications, voyages, passés et à venir, mais aussi de manière plus significative de leur présent.

Si ces conversations aident à nous renseigner sur leurs activités en tant que collectif, elles dévoilent surtout leur capacité à naviguer le temps avec un regard particulier. À partir de leur journal éponyme, au travers leurs interventions, leurs vidéos et leurs expositions, dont A doctrine of scattered occasions à Giselle’s Books en 2021, ce numéro de HOOT nous aide à lever les zones d’ombre dans la pratique confidentielle mais subversive de Inventory.

Following Giselle’s Books’ invitation of Inventory to its Marseille space for an exhibition in August 2021, we wanted to convey some of the junctures of our interest in their methodology through these conversations with two of its founders, Paul Claydon and Adam Scrivener. Their eminently important work is also crucial to understanding the ramifications of a discipline that shies away from uniformity and preconceptions. Through our questions, we have attempted to capture the central inquiries that they engage with as much in their eponymous journal as in their more recent works, such as the exhibition A Doctrine of Scattered Occasions. From loss to discovery, Giselle’s Books and Inventory follow the itinerary of singular journeys in the pages that follow.