Finalité Systémique N.1

The theory of ‘unitary urbanism’ developed by the Situationist in the 60s was to unify all artistic and technical activities in profits of an integral environnement’s construction.
Later, Francesco Careri said it again : « In unitary urbanism, all the arts combine in the construction of the human space. The inhabitants would rediscover the primordial aptitude for self-determination of one’s own home and one’s own life. The architect, like the artist, would have to change jobs : no longer the builder of isolated forms, but builder of complete environments, of the scenarios of a waking dream. Architecture would thus become part of a wider-ranging activity, and like the other arts it would disappear in favor of a unified activity that sees the urban environment as the relational ground for a game of participation. » ‘Walkscapes : walking as an aesthetic practice’ (CAP edition, p. 101)

In 2020, I initiated the rehabilitation project of an old stable into an artistic and architectural laboratory. Managing the entire project from the budget and the architectural plans to the technical work and the artistic direction, I have also been the main craftsman regarding the samples, as well as the artisanal, formal and final realization of the whole space.
Regarding my practice, the idea of this project was twofold : to use it as an experiment of Time, Consistency and Matters, to finally metamorphose it into a completely functional space.

The exhibition Finalité Systémique N.1 aims firstly to celebrate the accomplished rehabilitation of an ecosystem and presents the building as the main piece of the exhibition. In the continuity of a global reflexion, using my practice as an excuse to live and act attentively, the exhibition seeks to exclude all forms of separation between the sheltering and the sheltered space. It was not about creating a work for a space or a space for a work, but about building a Whole as a manifest.

The exhibition presents a fragile and ductile ecosystem, where freshly created works are still virgin and already annihilated, where our insatiable dichotomies fade when we study together that the gray, red, orange or yellow sky ultimately remains blue.

Heidegger says : « The upward glance passes aloft toward the sky, and yet it remains below on the earth. The upward glance spans the between of sky and earth. This between is measured out for the dwelling of man. » … « For man dwells by spanning the "on the earth" and the "beneath the sky." This "on" and "beneath" belong together. Their interplay is the span that man traverses at every moment insofar as he is as an earthly being. » in ‘Poetry, language, thought’ (Harper and Row edition, p. 220 & 223)

I want to thank Atelier Laurent Lagger for the unconditional support throughout the project, the Emmanuèle Bernheim Prize 2023, and the canton of Neuchâtel for the eight months residency awarded at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris which allows me, in the middle of this project, to continue my research in a rich and airy abundance.