Parliament's cultural communication project as part of BxlBravo
Project, Brussels, 2009
Annick Blavier/Caroline Lamarche
« Le hasard » (Chance), 1sur1 en vitrine, Brussels, 2006
Brussels, 5 July 2006
“Dear Caroline
“‘Le hasard’” (Chance): this year's La Fureur de Lire (The Passion for Reading) theme. I went onto the Internet and discovered this phrase by Albert Einstein: ‘Chance is the disguise God wears so that He can travel incognito on Earth.’ Seems to me like a nice place to start.
“There is a space in Brussels, 1sur1 en vitrine, which regularly shows the work of artists. I'd be interested in doing an installation there. I got in touch with Gilles Van Thienen, who runs the space — he has been sending me invitations for the past few months. He is open to my proposal. ‘Vitrine’ (window display), this word has a good feel to it: a place in the city that is closed to the public but open to the street. The space probably has a very diverse audience: local people, passers-by, artists, friends, La Fureur de Lire readers, people of all ages and backgrounds walking or driving down the street, their attention grabbed by what is in the windows, and perhaps by bits of writing... who knows?
“In a word, I'd be interested in showing two of my prints there, and to work with you on this.
A writer: you.
A scientist: Albert Einstein (with excuses...).
A visual artist: me.
“I also imagine a sound track coming out of the cellar, on each side of the window: with texts and quotes on chance, Euripides, Democritus, Proust, Mallarmé, the mathematicien Yvar Ekland, the poet Issa, the computer specialist Bernard Wach, the astrophysicist Hubert Reeves, with celebrities and less well-known people adding their bit: take it or leave it...? I would like to develop the idea of a non-homogeneous plurality in the texts and sounds. The heterogeneous elements would be: a text written by you printed in the central window, and, behind it, inside, at the back of the display area, (where the public is not allowed), the text by Albert Einstein in white lettering, on a grey background, and my two large digital prints on paper in the two windows and the quotations as a voice-over. Would you agree to be included in this installation?
“Looking forward to hearing from you, Have a lovely day.”
Annick
14 October 2006
“Hello Annick,
“I like these paired prints, the improbable meeting of the man's gesture, only just defined, and the woman's look, almost desperate or, on the contrary, powerfully attracted (how can we know which?). A chance meeting on the street, ephemeral, exciting, like the one that inspired my text.
“It seemed risky to put Einstein's words just behind my text, but in the end, the result seems simple and right, at least that is what I overheard during the preview. And then there is that little red lamp suggesting intimacy and a hint of voyeurism: guaranteed to attract attention from a distance, even from a car.
“I went back alone late yesterday evening to take the photos I'm sending to you, and I came across a young immigrant who told me how much this window display (this art space in the form of a shop window) brought life to the neighbourhood. He particularly liked this installation and felt that the chosen texts were ‘true’. He also said that he believed in chance himself. I got the impression that he saw a metaphysical dimension in the installation — at least the beaming smile on his face made me think that. And as the young man was very handsome, I said to myself: he was the god of Chance, appearing in this deserted street to say hello to me...
“I might be wrong, but anyway, I've now gone full circle: the remarkable memory of a previous ‘chance meeting’ (last year, in Mexico) inspired my text, and a year later in Brussels, another meeting, which was just as bright and unexpected, has brought the process to a close. Or has it started it off again?
“One could imagine an infinite number of future possibilities, in other places, other cities: starting with the first ‘chance’, others would carry the baton on... the game would continue so long as a ‘chance sign’ — like the meeting I told you about — appears and starts it off again...
“Of course, each city would have its own glow, its window or windows offered by a resident, its passers-by and, in the end, its own chance event: something spoken, a look, a particular light, the fugitive appearance of a sign that given to us (or not, in which case the adventure would then be extinguished) — by the ‘other’ (the god of chance?).
“To be continued? Whatever happens, thanks for making this little crystallisation possible.”
Caroline
En décalage, avec Caroline Lamarche
Installation on Place Flagey, Brussels, 2004
16 light boxes, 16 digital prints
Format 116 × 172 cm (45.67 × 67.72 in), Place Flagey, October 2004
With texts by Pierre Alferi, Johan Anthierens, Benno Bernard, Jean-Luc Godard, Franz Kafka, Caroline Lamarche
“I liked the challenge: of the street and its tough context, the palisade of Place Flagey, the very large format required, with all the surprises of making an enlargement, of laboratory reproduction and all its technical constraints. There is still one subject to be tackled: the book, reading, and quotes from writers. Not working in terms of communication: simply trying to construct little pieces of fiction starting with a phrase, or a quote, without falling into illustration, or a caption, accompanying a text, staying with the singularity of a given approach, mine, with the risk of appearing strange to someone passing along the palisade. A possible link? A love of literature, the pleasure of meeting people and of dialogue: writers. Fragments, printed details blown up, the opposition of odd elements, the importance of tearing, rather violently breaking the connection with history, working with memory, changes of direction, an attempt to introduce some fiction into our daily life, short-circuiting reality... Images and texts that don't match.”
Annick Blavier
I like working with Annick Blavier. Her posters touch me, speak to me of here and far-away, of dreaming and commitment, of daily life and the sense of History. Between you an me: an exacting complicity, where words, their meaning and music, are as important as the image. A common reflection, with each commenting on the work of the other. The pleasure of literary sharing. “Transfrontalière”: that has been said about me, too. Place Flagey: a frontier, a construction site, open to new possibilities, where very different worlds kaleidoscope into one another. The city is watching us, and we are watching the city.
Caroline Lamarche, writer, 2004
