Press release

ROCHE, DSV & Sie
architects
April 28 – September 8, 1996


ROCHE, DSV & Sie is a group of architects - François Roche, Gilles Desèvedavy and Stéphanie Lavaux - whose approach fits into a comprehensive process: the production of a project within an existing context. Their show at MAGASIN takes the form of a “floating cloth“ - a sort of hanging, translucent cloud which filters the light and subtly alters the way we perceive the place.

PAYSAGE N°5
“A floating skyline“ - a watershed between two adjacent places. A plastic “jellyfish“ made of see-through PVC, which interferes with the perception of the steel girders, and provides a roof over the emptiness of the “rue“ (Street), central space of the building. It is a panoptic street, where everything is on view, a priori, and where the eye merges what is near and what is far, and confuses th espace of the picture rails with Eiffel’s structures. And where this street is concerned, it is up to us to set this superposition at a distance, and in perspective, in a sort of retinal depth of field, a lens of spatial accuracy.
As a result of the installation of a distorting, blurred cloud, the eye can no longer adapt to the distance, and the street can at last find its autonomy, by becoming… a situational act.
Under this skin swollen with hot air, there are “split seconds“ to be grasped: tables, chairs, sofas, bed, little pieces of home, not yet unpacked, awaiting the appropriation of furniture tenants and one or two “live“ performances.
The “material“ transparency of the plastic offers a territorial and functional bond. Architecture also applies to this…
A “waltz“ is served - a mixture of beer and peppermint. Gastronomy has yet to come.”

Detail :
- 350M2 of PVC
- 4 pre-packaged environments (13 chairs, 3 sofas, 3 beds, 3 tables, and 30 cushions)
- a video made with Philippe Rahm
- beer and mint together