The rumour of Eric Stephany
Artist, Éric Stephany
CNHI, Paris - 2006
2cm2 hole in the floor
This project by the artist Eric Stephany is part of the rendering of the architectural competition concerning the conception of the permanent exhibition "Landmarks, at the museum of the History of immigration.
The architect :
They will build a place dedicated to the history of immigration in France.
The artist :
A place to finally welcome this inescapable component of our history?
The architect :
Yes, it's a story of territory and expression.
We lay new ground on the existing floor of the museum.
This ground lift 85cm from the original one. In this way, we raise the question of the floor.
What is the original floor? What is the welcome surface? This soil floats "on", while boxes, containers and suitcases are firmly anchored "on" the existing floor. Places were speaking of this story can be told.
The artist :
This new ground floats above the existing one. Then, you create an in-between, an "in-between floor". It is a result of the architectural proposal that becomes a gap with remarkable qualities for me. Where am I when I am between two floors? Can my words be heard there? The story invests the upper space, that of the new foundation, that of volumes, that of boxes. The interstitial emptiness born of this detachment becomes, in fact, a non-place. This zone is the meridian of non-right, the place of the invisible, the home of the unsaid.
The architect :
This void is a technical area that "feed" what is we see above.
It is, indeed, an area with its qualities. What play there makes the visible and the audible part possible.
The artist :
But something is rumbling in the underground...
I propose to interfere with this unvoiced. At the heart of the architect's design, I place myself in the residual area, here, charged with meaning.
The architect :
An intervention between the two floors strengthens the suggested gesture.
The artist :
To be there, ask the question of the visibility. I am here. I am from here. It also means asking the question of speech. Here, invisible and inaudible things play out. Like something underlying without ever being seen or heard. So I propose to engage in a dialogue between the architect, the museum and the artist: Invited by the architect, I insert an object somewhere between the two floors. I am the only one who knows the nature of this one.
The architect :
The day of the object's placement, during the construction site, an agreement will have to enter with the actors of the project (workers, museum staff, companies) to keep this secret.
The artist :
I make it visible. I speak. These are the two keys to a possible doing.
To commit and leave to the artist, the only knowledge of this invisible object is to give form to an artistic commitment. I give my word I must respect a secret. We trust each other. Who holds the key to the visible? And I add: Who speaks?
The architect :
Is there an interface between what play between floors and what we can hear on the floor?
The artist :
There is breath. An expiration. A hole made in the surface of the floor.
From this point, an enigmatic word flees: "I never knew what it was. The word came secret to me".
The architect :
Who is speaking?
The artist :
That is precisely the question.
Is it the artist? Is it the architect?
Is it the institution? Is it the one who listens?
This word can be taken up and overturned by each of us. It greets to the one who hears it.
You have to get as close to the ground as possible to hear it. There is a necessary displacement.
The architect :
Is it a point of exile?
The artist :
The status of exile today no longer makes any sense. Exile is a feeling. A powerful feeling.
The one who feels exile is the one who is conscious of the fact that he has to overcome his condition.
In this sense, exile is a shared feeling, here or there.
The architect :
We are going to talk about this intervention on the occasion of the communication on the architectural project.
The artist :
This is the last point that constitutes this project and gives it its title.
We ad a word. The rumour is African, from north to south.
The architects will talk about it. The curators will talk about it.
The invisible and secret object will make people speak about it. The text of this interview may be the subject of publications and exhibitions.
The addition of these words takes shape. Rumour is running.
The architect :
This "hide-and-seek", this hole in the ground, getting closer to the spot to hear, the rumour, makes me think of childhood memories.
The artist :
There is a free relationship to the world that lasts a brief time in our lives before patterns, rules and prejudices imprison us.
To be free in the world is perhaps the secret on this word.
Rumour (invisible monument), conversation between the artist and the architect.
