The House of Dust by Alison Knowles
INHABITED BY BIRDS AND FISH
Lou-Maria Le Brusq, Les choses propres et les choses sales, 2017
Mixed techniques on the wall
Lou-Maria Le Brusq has been participating in the Art by Translation seminars since March 2017: from group work sessions to seminars during which invited artists, academics, historians, and architects gave presentations related to the constellation of issues inherent in The House of Dust, including translation, play, Fluxus, cybernetic architecture, the notions of hospitality and nomadism, concrete poetry, and the question of delegation in art. Each of these subjects was discussed at length, and it was during the seminars that the form and content of The House of Dust was defined for the exhibition at the Darling Foundry. Le Brusq took notes during these seminars, and continued to do so during the exhibition. This constantly updated archiving of different periods of reflection becomes a raw material out of which she makes cutouts, collages, and assemblages. Taking notes is a (necessarily inadequate) form of translation from speech to writing, as the interpretation is also influenced by fluctuating attention. We are faced with what remains and with the selective authority of the archive, which presupposes choices, and, therefore, acts of prioritization, censorship, and repression. Looking more to detail and the insignificant, Le Brusq designs a fragmentary archive through which she brings out improvised forms of narration and lets herself be surprised by chance and the randomness of collective work.