In the port of Le Havre, one of thousands of
containers in transit has been modified to appear as an impeccable white cube.
Lit from within, it now operates as a visual signal which underlines the
synthetic form of this potential architectural form while imposing its presence
upon the immensity of the metallic and coloured elements of its environment
that appear as some huge construction game. The de-localization of the white
cube and its appearance as a signal transpose an idealized ideological form
directly into an environment that is specific yet also an archetype and
rationalized.
This installation interacts with another installation
set up at the same time at Spot, and which consists of the insertion of objects
taken from the port area into the exhibition space.
Arising from a list of the materials and elementary forms available in number
within the docks, this structure presents itself as a gigantic sample of a
series of elements emblematic of the industrial activity in ports. Four marine
fenders, imposing rubber cylinders, are placed on the floor and stuck to the
picture rails. Three metallic branches used to reinforce concrete divide up the
space and surround a huge pile of coal brought from the power station in the
port.
If this ready-made installation acts as if it were a sample taken from
an industrial landscape, it follows on from a series of gestures that prolong
thought about the means of representing territory, its limits and how it could
eventually be moved.
