Denis
Denis Darzacq
biography
French photographer, member of Agence VU’ since 1997, lives and works mainly in Paris
Graduated from the National School of Decorative Arts in 1986, he begins photography by following the French rock scene and movie sets. From 1989, he regularly collaborates with the daily newspaper Libération and more generally with the national press, before moving in the mid-1990s towards a more personal photographic work. From press photography, which was the cradle of his artistic practice, Denis Darzacq maintains a sharpened view of contemporary society and a method: that of field work in direct contact with his subject. But, convinced that planned images paradoxically serve to reflect society with greater acuity than reporting and testimony, he develops an analytical approach that leads to very coherent and formal series.
Since 2003, he has been using stagings that are all based on the principle of disruption. By their state or pose, the bodies – true common denominators of his research – upset the established order, without ever tipping the image into the spectacular. Conceived as a social sculpture, inseparable from the context with which he interacts, Denis Darzacq makes the body a marker of the norms of the “visible” in our consumerist societies and a critical tool for the difficulties or stigmatisation faced by certain groups.
By staging a priori meaningless gestures in “Hyper“, “La Chute” or “Act I and II“, he makes the body and gesture an invitation to assert an identity that is ever more complex than the socially assigned one, and to regain a form of freedom where it seems to have disappeared.
The 2010s marks a tipping point: with “Les casques de Thouars” and “Recomposition I“, the body becomes hybrid, the face disappears, the artifact takes precedence over the human; with “Recomposition II“, “Contreformes” and “Absence“, his photography becomes abstract, takes over its function as a signifier to assume the properly creative function of plastic reminiscence. His studies on human body, gesture and movement are now treated in parallel through video (“La Ronde“, video installation with the collaboration of choreographer Thierry Thieû Niang).
Regularly exhibited, and awarded by prestigious prizes (World Press Photo in 2007, Niépce Prize in 2012, etc.), his photographs have been included in numerous public and private collections, such as Musée National d’Art.
Series
Act 2, 2015
Doublemix, 2015
Act, 2009-2011
Hyper, 2008-2010
Euromed District in Marseille, 2007
Thouars Helmets, 2007
The Fall, 2006
Naked, 2003
Only Heaven, 2000
Together, 1999
Being Under 30 in Beijing, 2019
Act 2, 2015
Doublemix, 2015
Act, 2009-2011
Hyper, 2008-2010
Euromed District in Marseille, 2007
Thouars Helmets, 2007
The Fall, 2006
Naked, 2003
Only Heaven, 2000
Together, 1999
Being Under 30 in Beijing, 2019
Act 2, 2015
Doublemix, 2015
Act, 2009-2011
Hyper, 2008-2010
Euromed District in Marseille, 2007
Thouars Helmets, 2007
The Fall, 2006
Naked, 2003
Only Heaven, 2000
Together, 1999
Multimedia
I’m Me, 2015
5 to 6 actions varying in space and time, 2015
As a single man, 2014
I’m Me, 2015
5 to 6 actions varying in space and time, 2015
As a single man, 2014
I’m Me, 2015
5 to 6 actions varying in space and time, 2015
As a single man, 2014
Interviews
Interview with Denis Darzacq about his project”Act”
Mind the GAP
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Interview by Mind the GAP, 2017
Denis Darzacq met the Mind the Gap team while directing a series on characters with disabilities. It is one of Europe’s leading theatrical learning companies for people with disabilities. As part of his project, he worked with the actors of this company.
Denis Darzacq presents “Act”
Jeu de Paume
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Interview by le Jeu de Paume, 2016
Meeting with Denis Darzacq at Galerie VU, where he presents his latest book “Act”. After her series “Nu” (2003), “La Chute” (2005-2006) or “Hyper” (2007-2010), the artist renews her involvement as a photographer in the relationship to the subject and places the human question at the centre of her work in a different way.
Denis Darzacq – l’atelier A
Arte
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2015
Denis Darzacq, who came out of documentary photography, now stages other research on the true/false. Working around the group, he strives to give additional occurrences to categorized people.
Act pour action, Act pour acteur et Act pour activisme
RFI
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Interview byPascal Paradou, 2012
For his latest book Act, photographer Denis Darzacq staged a show for the disabled. Interview with the winner of the Niépce Prize 2012.
Denis Darzacq – Quelques centimètres au-dessus du bitume
VU’ à Paris
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Film directed par Marie-Clotilde Chéry (© Agence VU’ & La Fémis), 2006
« VUʼ à Paris » is a collective project of a contemporary glance of VUʼ Photographers inviting to a new perception of todayʼs Paris. This vision is an opportunity to highlight the details of a modern city, unique, cosmopilite with an international dimension.
The directors of La Fémis complete these photographic points of view, and offer us an original perception of the photographer and his approach, sometimes piercing some of his mysteries.
Exhibitions
La Chute
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20th edition of Photaumnales, Beauvais
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From September 16 to December 31, 2023
ACT
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Photoclimat : Biennial social and environmental photography event
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From September 14 to October 15, 2023
HYPER
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La Fab., Place Jean-Michel Basquiat, Paris
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From June 9 to October 22, 2023
BOBIGNY 2 – Reconstruction
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Gare routière de Bobigny, 93000 Bobigny, France
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From March 30 to May 22, 2022
Denis Darzacq
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Centre d’art contemporain de la Matmut, Saint-Pierre-de-Varengeville (FRANCE)
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From January 11 to April 5, 2020
Le bel aujourd’hui
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L’Orangerie des Musées de Sens, Sens (FRANCE)
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From February 3 to April 30, 2018
books
Denis Darzacq
Le bel aujourd’hui
Comme un seul homme
La Chute
Act
Hyper
La Chute
Bobigny, Centre Ville
À quatorze kilomètres d’Auxerre
Le ciel étoilé au-dessus de ma tête
Ensembles, 1997-2000
Denis Darzacq
Le bel aujourd’hui
Comme un seul homme
La Chute
Act
Hyper
La Chute
Bobigny, Centre Ville
À quatorze kilomètres d’Auxerre
Le ciel étoilé au-dessus de ma tête
Ensembles, 1997-2000
Denis Darzacq
Le bel aujourd’hui
Comme un seul homme
La Chute
Act
Hyper
La Chute
Bobigny, Centre Ville
À quatorze kilomètres d’Auxerre
Le ciel étoilé au-dessus de ma tête
Ensembles, 1997-2000
Awards
Niépce Prize
For a photograph of the series: The Fall
2012
Lauréat du 1er prix « Stories » du world press photo
For his series: The fall
2007
Winner of the Altadis Prize
For his project: Ensembles
2000