Stephanie Busson, Make Yourself at Home

1-4 October 2015, Art Licks Weekend 2015

I wish there were stable places, still, intangible, untouched and almost untouchable, immutable, rooted; places which would be references, starting points, sources[…]Such places do not exist, and it’s because they don’t exist that space becomes question, stops being evidence, stops being incorporated, stops being appropriated. Space is a doubt: I incessantly need to mark it, to designate it; it’s never mine, it’s never given to me, I have to conquer it.

Georges Perec, Espèces d’espaces, 1974

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Drawing inspiration from Perec’s text, Make Yourself at Home explores the idea of home in the broadest sense: What makes a physical, domestic, geographical, cultural space a home? How do we repeatedly inhabit and appropriate the space around us, move after move? How do places affect our sense of belonging/ our cultural identity?

The project started as a collaboration between artists Stephanie Busson, Vincent Chomaz and Sabine Jamme. The first occurrence – entitled Etats des Lieux – took place in June 2013 at Villa Cameline [Maison Abandonnée] in Nice. The second presentation – entitled Wherever I May Roam took place at Joao Cocteau in Berlin , in February 2014. In this context, Busson produced works based on translations between English and French, exploring incomprehension and misinterpretation from the perspective of non native speakers. In parallel, she also developed a series of works focussing on the idea of ‘moving’ and the ephemeral nature of home.

For this last installment, Busson is bringing the project to her flat in New Cross, London as a solo exhibition. The show will combine some of the works presented in Nice and Berlin and new pieces created to respond to the specificities of space including video, installation, text and performance.

Works:

La Leçon d’Anglais/ The French Lesson (video, 2013-15)