Fantasy

"Fantasy is the first monograph dedicated to the work of French artist Julie Béna. Featuring contributions by Michal Novotny´, Eva Barois de Carvel, Laura Herman, Rose English, and Nicoletta Lambertucci, this book explores over twenty years of Béna’s work, from early site-specific performances and post-conceptual gestures, to the development of theatrical alter egos through narrative sculptures, subversive performative acts, and moving-image works.Fantasy is...a tool through which Béna lucidly reads reality, through which she confronts social roles, and imagines emancipatory possibilities. It is a way to work through trauma—a struggle to live, and to live in line with one’s beliefs. We hope that this volume—through a dense and dynamic repertoire of images, humorous drawings, unexpected movements, caricatural type design, and critical texts—will become, for you, a space in which to explore the rich and intricate world of an artist, and the layered meanings of fantastical transformations. A book which, in the artist’s own words, can become “a place to return to, which is never quite the same. A book which moves with us.”(From 20 Years of Fantasy, by Silvia Franceschini)"