RÉVERBÉRATIONS TEMPORELLES
A Look throughout Cité Universitaire
Installation 2024. Bastille Design Center, Paris, France.
Installation: Sculpture made out of 32 30x30cm mirrors in wooden structure, inkjet photocollague on matte paper.
“The history of Cite Universitaire is a narrative of a place which came to be called Cite Universitaire, and those who lived in it, or merely, like passengers on Perec’s 96 bus, just passed through”
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THE WAR IS OVER !
After the World War I, The Enceinte de Thiers was destroyed and Cité Universitaire was built in the place of its bastions 82 and 83, giving birth to one of the first Garden Cities of Paris
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Remains of the bastion 82 of the enceinte de Thiers in the actual campus of Cité Universitaire, 2024
by María José Vasconcelos
The Porte de Gentilly on the Boulevard Kellermann around 1910-1913
by Eugène Atget.
Being an important focal point for the city's growth in the 19th century
And bringing together more than 150 nationalities in 43 houses.
THE OBJECTIVE...
The founders, André Honnorat, Paul Appell, and Émile Deutsch de la Meurthe, wanted to contribute to building a world of peace by creating a place dedicated to international exchanges.
Temporal Reverberations reflects on the architecture of Cité Universitaire, one of the first Garden Cities of Paris, and also an important focal point for the city's growth in the 19th century and the globalization of the city. This campus is a unique vision project that was conceived to foster peace and cooperation between nations during the interwar period, cultivating and promoting cultural diversity on its grounds. Bringing together more than 150 nationalities over the span of a century, this place has significantly contributed to the cultural diversity that characterizes our world today. However, in contemporary times, there is a growing search for individual identity, leaving aside national identity. How has the cultural diversity that once played a role in ending wars influenced us, and how do we experience it today? Are we perhaps at risk of losing our national or cultural identities?
This installation, centered on a visual device mirroring a constructed skyline of the ever-changing face of Cite Universitaire and a soundscape of inhabitants voices questions our unique perception of the present and makes us confront the malleability of perception and memory.