BEEN THERE, DONE THAT. Julien Paccard

For the first of his two solo exhibitions, he shows two artworks that are porous to the space they occupy, emphasizing that the territories we inhabit are never neutral but actively shape interactions: the series "Déja-vu", and the video installation "Footsteps #1".

"The "Déjà-vu" series takes an empirical approach: it channels impulses sourced from my personal experiences, whether during everyday walks through my neighbourhood or while travelling abroad. I spontaneously photograph check patterns found by chance on my way, without altering their environment and without overthinking the pictorial outcome. Every snapshot is automatically converted to a square, black-and-white format, producing a consistent accumulation of clichés that underscore the repetitive rhythm of life. I regard this motif in my work as a kind of ready-made. 

While these pictures document existing situations, they are filtered through my singular point of view. This seemingly ordinary and universal pattern can trigger different interpretations depending on the viewer and the context of display. Yet one can read through those constellations of black-and-white squares a fragment of the collective memory of our world. 

The selection of pictures for this exhibition is random. Nevertheless, their arrangement follow the room’s proportions, outlining the recurrence of repetition in my practice and simultaneously gives a guideline along which the next compositions could later be placed in the same room. The presented collection consists of nearly a thousand of accumulated photos which challenge the viewers’ perception of both the works and the space."

"With my video installation "Footsteps #1", I invite visitors to explore the relationships between people and their surroundings. This piece suggests the global flow of information through spontaneous social interactions within deliberately constructed urban conditions. 
Each impact on the ground is transposed musically as an expression of our shared, collective behaviors. 

The standardised metal grid evokes an industrial and systematic framework, capable of producing limitless variations. Its geometric, playful character suggests an expansive framework that creates a dynamic tension between strictness and liberty, able to extend as far as imagination allows within the limits of its available space. This approach recalls the Art & Language group’s use of protocol and seriality as functional tools."