Indoor Travels

In 1794, during a 42-day sentence of confinement in his room for illegal participation in a duel, Xavier de Maistre writes Voyage autour de ma chambre (A Journey Around My Room). In this autobiographical prison story, one finds that great journeys can happen indoors and that with the right mindset, a new adventure can begin at the corner of a table.

Fast-forward 230 years: artist in residence invites you to discover every corner of Bureau d'Etudes Japonaises' premises in a late Showa-era (1980's) apartment in Tokyo. At the same time, a set of questionable rules that has guided this self-assigned artist residency will be exposed.

« “「•••」” »

This is the visual identity of the work: an ellipsis framed by the quotation marks of the three languages that Bureau d'Etudes Japonaises struggles with on a daily basis (French, English and Japanese). The main piece of the boxed set is a 3.6m (near 12ft) long leporello.

The rules

Browsing to the right uncovers a combination of texts and diagrams exposing the rules of art-making at the residence. An open frame in the page seems to indicate who might have thought them up. Unless these words were just repeated or misquoted?

The place

Browsing to the left, domestic scenes of the life at Bureau d'Etudes Japonaises are revealed! The photos are inspired by the genre called Yokohama shashin (Yokohama photographs), a style of colorised photography that has promoted Japan to the world in the 19th century. This time, the open frame shows the corresponding place in the apartment.

The artist at work

In the course of this artist residency, the typographic signs associated with the work will relinquish their function as language framing devices and become emojis (Japanese: pictograms made of characters). Then, they will take on a life of their own in a short animation piece.

The Annexe

A folded poster gathers photos of the making-of as well as visual references and sources of inspiration. Among them, a letter and a portrait of the artist's ancestor Louis-Felix Florent who worked in Japan for 8 years in the 19th century.

The Publication

A multi-layered experience unfolds from artist in residence. Along with the leporello and the annexe, a card to cut-out invites you to make your own emojis. The handmade boxed set is being published in an edition of 100 numbered and signed copies.

Editions numbered from 1 to 20 include a unique instant print of one of twenty emojis from the animation.