Concrete Item  –  female reappropriation
Stop-motion video composed with 38 photographs, soundtrack «Quadraria»
by maycec, 06:41, 2024.

Video made up of images produced from the windows of my studio in the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. I observed the reappropriation of the playground by women. This concrete space is a reference to the modernist ideology of the body in movement, which advocates productivity. The preferred tool of the post-war era, concrete and its rigidity have shaped the forms and uses of our daily lives. The soundtrack “Quadraria” by the artist maycec interprets the memory of an old underground quarry where the different rock materials resonated, in reference to the concrete in the images of the film.


Burden
Video excerpt, mute, dimensions variable, 16/9, full film 08:10, 2023

Shot during the lockdown of 2020 in an urban space emptied of occupants, these still scenes were realized in the limited perimeter between my home and my studio in the Lichtenberg district. They reveal the different strata of East Berlin’s modern architectural history, from the utopian Garden Cities through the Communist period (Stasi headquarters, Plattenbau) to the gigantic storage sheds. In this performative video, I try to represent the burden and mental load that I have to carry. As the film progresses, fatigue builds to the point of physical and mental exhaustion. 


Architecture Is Frozen Music

An ongoing series currently consisting of 8 stop-motion videos made during my artistic residencies since 2015. Each video is constructed from photographs taken in their respective locations, questioning the architectonic forms of modernism. Whenever possible, the accompanying soundtrack is the result of a collaboration with a local artist.

Architecture is frozen Music #10, France, 2024 (sound by Michel Guillet)
Architecture is frozen Music #8 (Blitz), Israel, 2022 (sound by Hagai Izenberg)
Architecture is frozen Music #5 (Desert), Russia, 2019


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Facade of the Liebling Haus – White City center,Tel Aviv, IL, 2022

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Facade of the Liebling Haus – White City center,Tel Aviv, IL, 2022

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“Architecure Is Frozen Music”, B’sarya for the arts, Alexandria, Egypt, 2020

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Weekend Architektury, Gdynia, Poland, 2021

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Weekend Architektury, Gdynia, Poland, 2021

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D R A W I N G

Split
stop-motion video, b&w, mute, 06:21, 2021

In architecture, drawing a line is equivalent to representing a wall in plan, i.e. in top view. From then on, this element divides the space and imposes a duality. By adding to this simple line other lines, I make appear forms which take again among others the codes of representation in architecture such as sight in profile, sight in plan, perspective etc. This practice of drawing refers to my studies at the School of Architecture in Toulouse in the early 2000s, a time when hand-drawing was still an indispensable form of expression in the profession, now almost replaced by digital drawing.

Drawing #1 (6×6)
00:33, sound, 2017

With the use of a triangular scale, drawing lines that equal 6 meters on each of its six different scales. This specific ruler is used by architects to measure and draw floor plans. 6 meters is the whole length of the ruler at its biggest scale 1/20.

Drawing #2
00:22, sound, 2018

By activating architectural elements such as revolving or sliding doors, I draw geometric shapes using the sound they produce.


Chair
video (excerpt), 03:07, sound, 2019.

Chair x 2
video (excerpt), 03:12, sound, 2019.
In Iran, women are not allowed to dance in public. For that reason they mostly occupy chairs and benches while men are dancing. Two videos produced during an art residency in Tehran, Iran in 2019.


Blank
slide show, 20 photographs b&w, 03:21, 2017, soundtrack by
Chris Dreier & Gary Farelly.


ROOM m3
video (excerpt), sound, 1´34´´, 2015.

ROOM m2
video (excerpt), sound, 8´29´´, 2015.

Through two protocols that use the body as a measuring instrument (walking along the walls of a room in m2, or clapping my hands in m3), I try to capture the surface and volume of several different empty rooms (housing, offices, etc.). The sound and the echo produced by these repetitive gestures are then presented with the real measurements.


Masterpiece
video (excerpt), 01:53, no sound, 2017. Projection in the exact size of the measurements as they appear in the video.

A selection of masterpieces from Modern Art presented in chronological order.

Masterpiece III
video (excerpt), 02:22, sound, 2022

Capturing the echo produced by the closing of different holy books (Bible, Koran, and Torah, the main monotheistic religions) is an attempt to materialize their sacred dimension. 


102 bpm
video, 01:08, sound, 2019.

Walking at the rhythm of 102 beats per minute around the perimeter of a big empty room. At the same time, knocking on the wall as if checking the health of the surrounding architectural body.


S P A T I A L I Z I N G
Performative videos from 2015- today.

Climbing, 2020


Erase, 2018


Workspace, 2016


Sounds Hollow, 2016
Sandglass, 2016


Angle, 2016
XYZ, 2015