Now - Air de Paris

Flint Jamison’s conceptual practice is known both for its remarkable formal dexterity and its opacity. His sculptures and DIY publications aim to reveal the structures of the neoliberal world through enigmatic forms and meticulously chosen materials. This layering, long upheld as a safeguard of artistic integrity, has been set aside in the project presented here at Air de Paris, which the artist has titled:

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Contact Prints
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Open Broadcaster Software Screen Shots Of Rückenfigur Portraits
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Streaming Services Executives
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While maintaining its enigmatic quality, certain elements are rendered more explicit, an evolution that takes place within a dramatic political context, pushing many artists to engage in a complex balance between artistic form and message.

The exhibition centers around Jamison’s latest publication: a hand-bound, eighty-page book that presents black- and-white silver gelatin photographs printed as contact sheets and inserted manually, with letterpressed poems on carbonless copy paper, a process he frequently employs. The edition is limited to nineteen copies, each with a wall-mounting rail embedded into the cover, allowing the books to be hung on the gallery walls.

The photographs depict portraits of board executives from the online platforms Kick, Twitch, YouTube, and Spotify. Jamison imported these images into the open-source broadcasting software OBS, then produced black- and-white negatives using a custom camera, and developed the contact sheets in his darkroom.
With an almost painterly finish, these images are described by the artist as Rückenfigur, a German term referring to a form of representation in which a figure is seen from behind, contemplating a landscape. In the Kantian and German philosophical tradition, this motif conveys the experience of the sublime, expressing a relationship of human dominance over the world. From a privileged position, a subject contemplates the overwhelming power of their environment (a raging sea, for example) while remaining unthreatened, secure in their intellectual mastery of it.

The Rückenfigur find its troubling echo in contemporary streaming platforms. These are spaces for the contemplation of action from afar, and the detachment that occurs between what is seen and those who are watching is problematic in many ways. Jamison has been working on this publication for nearly a year, but a few weeks before my text was written, a tragedy occurred: the death on air of Raphaël Graven, alias Jean Pormanove, live streamer of the Australian platform Kick, after months of abuse. Mocked, humiliated, and beaten, Graven’s final broadcast unfolded as a grim spectacle before hundreds of thousands of viewers1, whose monthly donations—amounting to roughly €135,000—funded the abuse enacted by accomplices Owen C., Safine H., and Gwen C2. “Who is responsible?” asked newspapers reporting the sordid details of the case. Is it Kick, which profits by minimizing moderation? The ministry, which had received 80 reports denouncing the violence against Raphaël Graven3? The police? The accomplices? The subscribers?

“There is no neutrality,” Jamison asserts, “There are no exemptions.” If the gallery is a landscape, then by approaching the book and its images hung at eye level, visitors themselves become Rückenfigur. In this compact exhibition, Flint Jamison moves beyond complex representations of systems of domination to portray human responsibility in a tangible way, playing out on multiple levels: those who lead, those who watch, those who know. By exposing this structure, the artist insists on the physical and ethical entanglement of every person within the neoliberal mechanisms that profit from the most vulnerable.

— Flora Katz

La pratique conceptuelle de Flint Jamison est connue à la fois pour sa remarquable dextérité formelle et son opacité. Ses sculptures et publications DIY visent à révéler les structures du monde néolibéral dans des formes énigmatiques et des matériaux méticuleusement choisis. Cette opacité, revendiquée historiquement pour protéger la qualité d’une œuvre d’art, s’est réduite dans le projet ici présenté à Air de Paris et que l’artiste a nommé

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Contact Prints
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Open Broadcaster Software Screen Shots Of Rückenfigur Portraits
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Streaming Services Executives
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Tout en conservant un caractère énigmatique, des éléments se font plus explicites. Cette évolution apparait dans le cadre d’un contexte politique dramatique, poussant de nombreux artistes à fortement négocier entre forme artistique et message.

L’exposition est centrée sur la toute dernière publication de Jamison : un livre relié de soixante-douze pages présente des photographies argentiques noir et blanc tirées sur des planches contact et insérées manuellement, ainsi que des poèmes embossés, imprimés sur un papier autocopiant, un procédé que Jamison utilise fréquemment. L’ouvrage est édité en 19 exemplaires, chaque couverture est incrustée d’un rail de fixation mural permettant d’être accroché aux murs.

Les photographies proviennent de portraits des dirigeants des conseils d’administration des plateformes en ligne Kick, Twitch, YouTube et Spotify. Jamison les a importées dans le logiciel de diffusion libre et open source OBS, puis a réalisé des négatifs noir et blanc à l’aide d’un appareil photo personnalisé, avant de tirer les planches contact dans sa chambre noire.
Avec un rendu presque pictural, ces images sont décrites par l’artiste comme des Rückenfigur, une expression allemande qui désigne une forme de représentation de personnes de dos, contemplant un paysage. Ce motif, utilisé dans la tradition philosophique allemande kantienne pour désigner le sentiment du sublime, vise à exprimer un rapport de domination de l’humain sur le monde. Depuis une place privilégiée, un sujet observe la force démesurée de son environnement (une mer déchaînée, par exemple), et se délecte de sa capacité intellectuelle à pouvoir le contempler sans en être menacé.

Les Rückenfigur trouvent un écho troublant dans les plateformes de streaming contemporaines. Celles-ci sont effectivement contemplées avec une certaine distance, et le désengagement qui se produit entre ce qui est regardé et ceux qui regardent est à de nombreux égards problématique. Jamison travaille sur ce projet depuis presque un an, mais quelques semaines avant d’écrire ce texte s’est produit une tragédie, la mort en direct de Raphaël Graven, alias Jean Pormanove, live streamer de la plateforme australienne Kick, après des mois de maltraitance. Raillé, humilié, battu, il était le sujet d’un sinistre spectacle pour des centaines de milliers de d’utilisateurs 2 - dont les donations mensuelles pouvaient monter jusque 135 000 euros - regardant ces scènes de violences pratiquées par les acolytes Owen C., Safine H. et Gwen C 3 . Qui est responsable, se demandent les journaux rapportant les faits sordides de l’affaire ? La plateforme Kick, qui engendre des profits en réduisant les couts de médiation ? Le ministère, qui avait reçu 80 signalements dénonçant la violence exercée sur Raphaël Graven 4 ? La police ? Les acolytes ? Les abonnés ?

« Il n’y a pas de neutralité », affirme Jamison, « Il n’y a pas d’exemption ». Si la galerie est un paysage, en s’approchant de ces livres accrochés à hauteur des yeux, les visiteurs endossent eux-mêmes, la position de Rückenfigur. Dans cette exposition concise, Flint Jamison sort des représentations complexes des systèmes de domination pour dépeindre une responsabilité humaine de façon incarnée, et qui se joue à de multiples niveaux : ceux qui dirigent, ceux qui regardent, ceux qui savent. En exposant cette structure, l’artiste cherche à révéler l’intrication physique et éthique de toute personne exposée aux mécanismes néolibéraux qui profitent des plus fragiles.

— Flora Katz

Photo: Grégory Copitet

Heidi O'Neil / Of Contact Prints Of Open Broadcaster Software Screen Shots Of Rückenfigur Portraits Of Streaming Services Executives Of, 2025, 80 pages, Letterpressed text and tipped in Silver Gelatin Contact Prints, Case Bound, Metal fastener and screws, 14.3 x 18.4cm. Photo: Grégory Copitet

Daniel Ek / Of Contact Prints Of Open Broadcaster Software Screen Shots Of Rückenfigur Portraits Of Streaming Services Executives Of, 2025, 80 pages, Letterpressed text and tipped in Silver Gelatin Contact Prints, Case Bound, Metal fastener and screws, 14.3 x 18.4cm. Photo: Grégory Copitet

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