“Le Pavillon”, the venue where my residency took place and where I showed the results of my experiments in the street, is situated on the tip of the Caen Peninsula. It’s a very interesting area because it is surrounded by water (the St. Pierre Bassin, the Caen à la Mer Canal, the Orne river and the Victor Hugo canal) and currently it’s in the middle of a huge urban transformation. Modern constructions, old factories, abandoned buildings, designed green areas and waste land are all mixed together. This makes it an open space, well defined and perfect for aleatory wandering.
For this exercise, I defined 23 points at key spots around the area (building angles, crossroads and corners). The goal was to walk from one point to another choosing at random the next point. The route started at point n.º1, had to go through 10 points and finished again at point n.º1. The result of each stroll generated a design that was then converted into a wood sculpture using a laser at the local Dôme Fablab. Finally, I painted and exhibited them at the Pavillon. I traced 11 routes myself and 6 were traced by the participants of a workshop with the Fablab. Each sculpture represents a 30 to 40 minutes stroll on a distance from 2 to 3 km.
Crossing the Orne river one day using the Orne-Boom (a boom built in 1908 that is used to regulate the tide) I realized that in font of each door, on the downstream side, the water was forming very powerful whirlpools. The next time I crossed the bridge I saw that the debris that had been floating the day before was still turning around in the same place. I understood that the whirlpools were so strong that any objects caught in them could barely escape. So, I decided to throw some art in one of the strongest whirlpools and see what would happen. After 5 days I decided to get them back and, after quite a lot of trouble, I managed to fish them all out of the water and bring them back to the exhibition space.
Generative and participative painting
La Grette Neighborhood
Besançon, France 04/2017
10 days and 180 participants – project organized by Juste Ici part of a CLEA (local contract of artistic education) with la Butte and la Grette schools.
Thanks to the whole Juste Ici team, to the volunteers, to the MJC Grette-Butte, to the 408 residents, to the teachers of la Butte and la Grette schools and all to the children who participated in the painting.
Le Dédale, art circuit in the public space
Belvès, Dordogne, France, 06/2016
When I was offered to participate in the Dédale in Belvès, I went strolling the street of the village to find ideas and ways to intervene in it. Used to work in cities, to create in the streets of such a charming and harmonious little village was for me a real challenge. Quickly, I noticed the presence of a lot of unoccupied houses with windows blocked with wooden planks. I had the idea to intervene directly on these planks and old shutters to highlight the buildings without denaturing them, without touching their stones. To paint on these ephemeral supports, marginal witnesses of an interrupted activity, provides them with a certain dignity and gives them back an honorable role in the city: support for a works of art.
Somerset House
London, U.K.
Exhibition curated by A by P
3 March – 2 May 2016
Footpaths
Four 15′ walking performances
Black ink on 285 g. FabrianoRosaspina paper 100 x 70 cm, 2′ video
Rules:
The participant of the action selects an area of public space and defines a specific time period.
The perimeter of this predefined space is then circled in a clockwise fashion.
When an outsider visible to the participant enters the perimeter, the participant must immediately attempt to reach the outsider’s point of intrusion.
If the perimeter is further breached during the attempt to reach the initial intruder’s entry point, this subsequent point becomes the new target.
Once an intrusion point is reached, the participant continues circling the perimeter until either a further intruder enters or the time limit is reached.
Finally a drawing is generated; a testimony to the footpath experience.
Generative and participative painting
Cité Brûlard (the “408”)
Besançon, France 03/2016
9 days and 125 participants – project organized by Juste Ici part of a CLEA (local contract of artistic education) with la Butte and la Grette schools.
Thanks to the whole Juste Ici team, to the volunteers (Fany and Sandrine), to the MJC Grette-Butte, to the 408 residents, to the teachers of la Butte and la Grette schools and most of all to the 125 children who participated in the painting.
