Appropriation

puzzle pieces made of cardboard, silicone, and paint; a public art project carried out over three days in collaboration with a group of residents from the Bréquigny neighborhood in Rennes

Appropriation  involved assembling puzzle pieces to create a cardboard structure that would form an extension of a building. For the artist, the idea of taking over a public space meant becoming an integral part of neighborhood life. He therefore spent two weeks living in the Bréquigny neighborhood to work there with local residents. Once the structure was complete, each person could choose a color that evoked a place, a memory, or a dream, and cover the cardboard surface with that same color. Standing in this now “familiar”—or at least personalized—environment, each person would share their story. This second phase of the artwork will result in the creation of a video.

Cirrus creates works that, by occupying urban space, disrupt our perception of and relationship with that space. Even though we navigate the city every day, it is increasingly slipping away from us. Dense and streamlined, it leaves no room for no man’s land or emptiness. By choosing the Bréquigny neighborhood, Cirrus highlights an urban planning approach that seems to pay little attention to residents’ quality of life in favor of functional architecture. A city taken away from its residents. Appropriation was inspired by the sight of these remnants of wallpaper, paint, and partitions that emerge after buildings are demolished—the only traces left of someone having made a home there. This shift from the interior to the exterior seeks to make the city available and accessible. But this openness in architecture—which nevertheless remains precarious and fragile—cannot help but evoke the plight of the homeless.

Alexandra Gillet