(SE) DONNER À LA SEINE
(se) donner à la Seine
2024-ongoing, Video & performance
A water current, subjected to the force of gravity, does not simply flow from upstream to downstream, that is, from a higher point in altitude to a lower point: it grows, widens towards its riverbed called the ‘major’ or flood bed, and narrows, then occupying only the ‘minor’ bed; like a thoracic breath with an atypical rhythm. Thus, we talk about ‘wild’ rivers, like the Loire, whose banks are not yet captive to constructed walls. And even when these water currents, often urban, whose lateral movements are limited and cannot freely expand, the height they reach during floods is considered to hinder daily life or even threaten urban structures, infrastructure, and homes. But in reality, a water current, a river, any body of water, are liminal spaces that mark the perpetual transition between water and the terrestrial, urban environment of the Anthropocene.
‘(se) donner à la Seine’ is being produced during a period when not only the Seine’s cleanup efforts are drawing international public interest, parallel to similar efforts on other rivers traversing European capitals like Berlin and the Spree, but also when rivers are beginning to be granted the status of legal personality.
Since Antiquity, the Seine, an emblematic river, has played a central role in the history, culture, and economy of the region, while also witnessing major social and political events. From the windows of my temporary studio at the Cité Internationale des Arts overlooking the Seine, I was figuratively immersed in this river, and almost literally as well. The artistic research I conducted during the three months of residency allowed me to reflect on the relationships between the Seine and Parisians, especially those who directly or indirectly wield power over this fluvial body.
I arrived at a perception of binary relationships as well as a proposition to diversify and vary them. It seems to be a rather familiar dichotomy where on one side the river is elevated to the divine in the symbolic realm, often represented by a young and beautiful woman, without real power or might, appearing docile; reduced to a commodity, a tool, a resource to be mastered on the other. A non-being rather than an entity in its own right. Therefore, the relationships cultivated with the Seine would belong only to these two registers.
So, how to connect with a water body? How to give to it rather than take? How to give without expecting a return? How to coexist?
The Seine as a liminal experience.
