I wish there were stable places, still, intangible, untouched and almost untouchable, immutable, rooted; places which would be references, starting points, sources[…]Such places do not exist, and it’s because they don’t exist that space becomes question, stops being evidence, stops being incorporated, stops being appropriated. Space is a doubt: I incessantly need to mark it, to designate it; it’s never mine, it’s never given to me, I have to conquer it.
Georges Perec, Espèces d’espaces, 1974
Drawing inspiration from Perec’s text, Etats des Lieux explores the idea of home in the broadest sense: What makes a physical, domestic, geographical, cultural space a home? How do we repeatedly inhabit and appropriate the space around us, move after move? How does increased mobility opportunities and migration flow impact on our sense of belonging/ affect our cultural identity?
The project brings together Stéphanie Busson, Vincent Chomaz and Sabine Jamme. For Etats des Lieux, the three artists worked separately to produce new works in response to these questions. They only became aware of each others work at the time of installation, confronting and questioning, in the process, the idea of artistic collaboration.
In this context, Busson produced works based on translations between English and French to explore incomprehension and misinterpretations from the perspective of non native speakers. In parallel, she also developed a series of works focussing on the idea of ‘moving’ and the ephemeral nature of home.
The first occurrence of the project took place at Villa Cameline, Nice in June 2013. A publication including texts by Chomaz and Busson and photographs by Jamme was produced at the occasion of the exhibition.
Stephanie busson 