Michel Houellebecq—the controversial, award-winning French author of novels including Atomised and Platform—is making his presence felt in the art world this summer, with an appearance at the Manifesta 11 exhibition in Zurich (11 June-18 September). An exhibition of the writer’s photographs and films is also due to open at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris this summer.
The German artist Christian Jankowski aims to pair artists with Zurich workers as part of his curatorial plan for Manifesta 11. The roving European biennial, founded in 1993, will include 30 commissioned works under the title What People Do for Money: Some Joint Ventures.
Houellebecq will undergo a physical examination by Henry Perschak, a doctor at the Clinic Hirslanden in Zurich. “Houellebecq, who has an interest in the aesthetics of medicine, will display scans of his brain as well as sound recordings and moving images of his heart and circulation alongside the invoices incurred from the examinations, begging the question: What‘s the price of good health?” a press statement says.
The Mexican photographer Teresa Margolles, meanwhile, will bring together sex workers from Zurich and Juarez in Mexico for her “joint venture”. The encounter, or performance, will take place over a game of poker at the Hotel Rothaus. The Catalan artist Carles Congost will produce a “mockumentary” focusing on a young Swiss fireman in partnership with the Zurich fire brigade.
Houellebecq’s show at the Palais de Tokyo, entitled Rester Vivant (Staying Alive), is due to take place from 23 June to 11 September. Jean de Loisy, the director, said last year that this “is not a show about Houellebecq. It’s an exhibition devised by the writer, which will include [his] photographs, installations and films, along with commissions by other artists such as Robert Combas.”
"This show is a scenario, leading visitors through the writer’s obsessions... it will offer an immersion into the world and mind of the protean creator who is Michel Houellebecq," a spokeswoman says.
Houellebecq’s novel Submission, published last year, envisages France ruled by a Muslim president in 2022; in January last year, a cartoon of the writer dressed as a wizard—declaring the words “In 2022, I’m observing Ramadan”—appeared on the cover of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The same week, two gunmen murdered 12 people in Charlie Hebdo’s office in a terrorist attack.
