Vis-à-vis

Grichka Commaret @ +DEDE, curated by Guilhem Monceaux

AUG 29 - SEP 5, 2020

As a teenager, information circulated so slowly. Sometimes it was as futile as it is now. Sometimes it was crucial. Getting information, education, access to resources meant moving around the city often. If you weren’t one of the lucky ones who could get around on your own, you had to rely on public transportation. If you were in school, you probably had a bus pass to go to class on weekdays. Before the ritual agony of the modem came into our homes, and if Internet café wasn’t an option, there was still the primary school library. Few people there, within the right time slot and under the guise of research for your presentation you could research what you were really interested in. It was even possible to print it out for a few pennies. 

As an adult, the information is constantly spilling over, more than anyone can absorb. The problem lies in the false reciprocity that feeds this constant flow. You understand now that you’ve provided everything that was needed. You don’t dare to say a word to yourself as a teenager, even if you happen to run into him again on facebook, fresh and hairless, surrounded by his friends at a party, or showing off at the beach. Probably like any addiction: it starts when you’re young without any direct consequences and then it turns into a habit because it’s not that bad. 

As a teenager, you were much more dependent. Probably from your family, with whom you shared meals - breakfast and dinner, you were probably at school for lunchtime - you fell asleep and woke up every day close to them. You had not chosen the decoration on the walls, nor your diet, nor the ideas exchanged briefly during meals. You may have had an extra-curricular activity that allowed you to explore another place, which did not belong to your family or school. Perhaps you treasured those long, solitary walks that gave you time to observe your world. The sky, the clouds, the buildings, the pavilions, the football field, the tobacco store, the bakery, the Tesco, the plane trees, the school, your home. The world one and a half meters above the ground. You knew this path by heart and you could still follow it today even if you haven’t set foot on it for years. 

With devices that come with your independence - such as a mobile phone - you have more control over this setting. With a minimum of organization you can even alter it easily. A memory is constantly changing while a picture gives the most explicit insight into what is happening to you. Not so much for yourself, but for others. Nothing like slides or printed photographs. No, you are independent now, why go back to a long lost world? 

The first times still belonged to you and your inner circle. These images revived memories that were still fresh and made you want to see each other again soon, to find yourself on Saturdays always in the same wasteland. Informal but so familiar, you didn’t need to have seen the whole surface to be convinced that it was yours. It didn’t matter if others were there when you weren’t. You didn’t know about it because you weren’t there. 

Nowadays your bearings are multiplied and something strange happens. As you multiply your landmarks, you cover your tracks more. You photograph every place you go to. You also know that those who walk behind you will share the same images as those who follow them. Everyone already knows what you know because you’ve shown it to them and they liked it in return. You see everything. It is as if the hand of a tall building comes out of the ground, and you stand in its palm as the city shrinks. Maybe you remember that stone golem in The Never-ending Story. Visually that’s about it. 

As the hand rises, you melt into his palm. Slowly, you become the building, but the smaller the city gets, the less you realize it. The abundance of details drives you crazy, you look around and you can’t be satisfied with just one eye. From up there you watch the horizon and globes are growing at your feet that allow you to keep the illusion of being the only one enjoying the view. If someone approaches, you will see them. 

But something is still missing. Is it your family that irritates your bowels? Is it them fiddling with the light switches, growing mold on the shower’s ceiling, or rattling drawers? Is it someone else’s loved ones? How do you know when you’re just a tower standing in the middle of the neighborhood? Maybe the other buildings could help you, tell you what they see on their side? 

Maybe they can see your school. Here! Maybe the wasteland still remembers being trampled all these years by so many children. If it isn’t suffocated under the weight of the new building that grew on it. What good is an empty lot if the little ones have grown up? Doesn’t it make more sense to build an office so they can work? If you find it easy to criticize, do you think it is easy for a building to organize the lives of others? I don’t even dare to give you this task because I know it would bother you. 

You chose the city, excellent choice. You were right to let me take over. I’m not a monster as you can see: I’m sixty percent human. Without them I would have no reason to exist. I still remember melancholically the naive look I had on things. But I understand now that I am the only one who can take care of you. Whether you wanted it or not. It doesn’t matter now that we’re here. I know you by heart, I know the features of your face and I see you smiling when you are stimulated. Besides, if you liked it, I can recommend you what others liked as well. We will both benefit from it, it would be criminal to miss this chance. 

Let me see what you saw: What a talent! I know a lot of people and yet I have never seen anyone with such an eye! It would be a shame not to have an artist of your caliber. What I like about your work is that you manage to address the universal with a singular point of view. That’s important you understand, because a lot of people count on me and therefore a lot of people count on you! Don’t offend them, you are not so different you know. What are your priorities, your own small world or infinite knowledge? 

You ended up investing the building across the street. You’re starting to feel better I guess. Now look at those kids passing by. Do they look unhappy? They’re doing the same as you and I, they’re building their own memories too. They see us without really paying attention, but without us their getaway wouldn’t have the same flavor. If you want to know for sure, take a look at the images they are showing you: look, you stand behind their stunned faces. One can almost have a glimpse at the blue brick patterns that adorn your facade.