"Trash", new exhibition by Bruno Mouron and Pascal Rostain (photographers from "Paris Match" magazine)
"Maison Européenne de la Photographie"
From 2007, March 14th to June 3rd

These photographs, largely published in the international press in the Nineties, are exposed for the first time in France, including Madonna, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Clint Eastwood, Elizabeth Taylor, John Travolta, Tom Hanks, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Nicholas Cage.

The size of the photographs is 120 cm x 180 cm which allows to see all details.

The photo of Madonna's trash (from 1996) shows a shampoo of the mark "Superstar" and a lot of bottles of water.

"ESPRIT Femme" magazine - April 2007

The exhibition will travel to the house of photography in Moscow in April.

"Trash" exhibition by Bruno Mouron and Pascal Rostain

MEP ("Maison Européenne de la Photographie")
5, rue de Fourcy
75004 Paris

From Wednesday to Sunday, from 11:00 am to 7:45 pm.
Book 64 pages, Editions du Regard, 32 euros.

From www.mep-fr.org/us/expo_1.htm :

The original inspiration for this two-man project was an article in the daily newspaper Le Monde where a sociology professor explained a study he had carried out in which household waste was analysed in order to provide an understanding of consumerism and social behaviour. Bruno Mouron and Pascal Rostain found that this was both the opportunity to have some almost adolescent fun that was perfectly consistent with their profession : they decided to 'go through the trash' thrown away by their celebrity clients. The way they worked has as much to do with paparazzis as with sociology: it involved tracking down, locating and planning the collection of the waste that interested them.

They started with Brigitte Bardot, communist politician Georges Marchais, far-right politician Le Pen, disgraced multimillionaire businessman Bernard Tapie, tennis player Yannick Noah, and actor Gérard Depardieu. Encouraged by Daniel Filipacchi they continued their antics in Los Angeles, rifling through the trash thrown out by Brando, Nicholson, Madonna, Michael Jackson and even Ronald Reagan.

These "abject objets" we remove from our sight by throwing them away were then used as the raw material for their project. Back in their studio, they sorted through the material, then chose and displayed parts of it according to formal and taxinomic logic. This studied classification of consumed goods ultimately reveals the private life of the person who once owned them. Thus composed and photographed, the contents of the trashcans become exhibits where once they were hidden from view.

Pascal Rostain and Bruno Mouron have been 'going through the trash' for fifteen years, producing an inventory that is troubling from a moral, economic and even political point of view. But who's upsetting whom? Who's upsetting what? The subjects thamselves prefer to manage their obscenity rather than leaving it to others. The trashcan is the ultimate abjection ; it is even more scatological than bodily waste - it is 'pornographic' in that it denounces foibles, faults and deviances. Trash speaks to us of shame and shadow.

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Watch two TV reports from French channels on this exhibition, including interviews with the 2 French photographers Bruno Mouron and Pascal Rostain and a close look at the photo of Madonna's trash :

- From today's TV news on France 3, click on the pic below :

And then click on :

- From yesterday evening's TV news on France 2, click on the pic below :

And then click on :