Cruciform elastics, phonic and heat insulating, plexiglass, cork, wadding

Garage Gallery, Paris

Collective exhibition Visible walls /  Invisible walls commissioned by Rebecca Young, Paris - FR

The fall of the Berlin Wall was staged by its actors, who were conscious of taking part in a true historical event. The construction of history tend to emphasize the symbols in the representation of facts. It shapes our perception of events and the way we remember them. The 1989 piverts (a nickname given to those who came to collect fragments of Wall) were massively photographed around the Brandenburg Gate. They were the focus of numerous special editions and became one of the most broadcast news on TV channels across the world. In the installation 9.3.1989 Réification I questionned the permanence of a wall and its ability to transform itself through a symbolic composite material.

I created a brick able to self-demolish in order to emphasize that the future of any wall lies in its eventual destruction. The elastic that binds it together can withstand only one time. When it cracks or is taken off, the brick explodes and dissociates itself. These modules' layers include portraits of the piverts captured from television archives. Men and women who witnessed the destruction of the wall and became actors of this demolition are unveiled as every brickexplodes, accentuating the euphoric feeling of liberation.