Sorbonne Artgallery presents the collective exhibition of OU-X-PO, Compléments Sous Contraintes, which brings together works from different current branches of the historical literary movement Oulipo (Ouvroir de littérature potentielle). The exhibition highlights their artistic contributions, which extend to several mediums, such as photography, painting, comics, and potential typoesis, to name a few.

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History of the OU X PO: from college to students:

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Shortly after the Ouvroir de littérature potentielle (OuLiPo) was founded in 1960 by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais, the latter considered extending the formula to other arts. The Lionese then conceived the notion of Ou-X-Po. For painting, he brings together a first Ou-Pein-Po, which did not last. For music, he tried to organize an Ou-Mu-Po; and for cinema, he wanted the creation of an Ou-Cine-Po. He even went so far as to imagine a potential Mathematical Ouvroir.

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To make an Ou-X-Po, it is enough that at least two companions meet somewhere (the Ouvroir, the OU) with the intention of exploring in their discipline (the X) certain experimental rules or exercises. The result of their exploration is a creative possibility, or potential (the PO). Placed under the dual aegis of mathematics and "pataphysics", this game mixes rigor and imagination without any utilitarian intention. The rules and exercises explored are usually referred to as "constraints".

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The Ou-X-Po presented here have chosen as their common constraint, the mathematical notion of the COMPLEMENT. Each participant has applied it in their own field. In mathematics, the complement is "what is not" – the complement of a set being what is not in that set.

 

The complement is thus the counterpart of negation. The YIN and the YANG in Chinese philosophy offer a visual illustration of this idea. The whole and its complement join together to form a whole.

In this exhibition, the complement is conjugated in various forms, sometimes implicitly, to the point of losing its initial strict meaning by giving way to a third option. Enough to make visitors' heads spin, each being free to imagine "their own complement" potential !

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The artists exhibited are from the following groups:

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Oulipo Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle

Oupeinpo Ouvroir de Peinture Potentielle

Outrapo Ouvroir de Tragécomédie Potentielle

Oubapo Ouvroir de Bande dessinée Potentielle

Ouphopo Ouvroir de Photographie Potentielle

Oupolpot Ouvroir de Politique Potentielle

Ougrapo Ouvroir de Graphisme Potentiel

Oulipo Frankfurt Ouvroir d’Écriture Potentielle

Outranspo Ouvroir de Translation Potencial Oudropo Ouvroir de Droit Potentiel

Outypopo Ouvroir de Typoésie Potentielle

& in absentia : Oulipopo · Oumupo · Oucarpo · Oucipo · Oucuipo · Ougopo · Oplepo ·

Ourapo · Ou po…