Replicant, 2017

Weeds / 4 x 4 m

Exhibition Infiltration, APDV Art Center, invited by Valérie Barot.

Apdv - Centre d'art was born of the desire to place artistic action at the heart of social reality, and more specifically within the low-income housing of the RIVP 4001 group located at Porte de Vincennes in Paris. The project consists in reinventing and reinvesting spaces qualified as intermediaries between private and public space, including janitor's lodges. But also courtyards, corridors and gardens...

For the Infiltration exhibition, following an immersion and careful observation of the site, I propose to infiltrate a certain number of undesirables into the HLM group. The works Guests, Fluorescence and Replicant.

Replicant is a perfect replica of a flower arrangement in the gardens of the Château de Versailles, relocated to a low-income housing estate in Paris. The sophisticated composition is exactly the same as those designed by Le Nôtre's heirs, but the flowers have been replaced by weeds: dandelions, thistles and nettles are meticulously arranged on the mound. Replicant looks like a flying saucer, and borrows from science fiction the futuristic idea of moving through layers of space-time and social classes.