Chapter (3)
~ Infiltrations
Museum of Ethnography of Geneva (MEG) / 2021-2023
The Museum of Ethnography in Geneva reached out to me on two occasions to propose innovative formats for cultural mediation, aiming to engage and invite new audiences to the museum. The focus was on collective experimentation, social practice and cultural participation.
Ateliers Vivants / autumn 2023
“What date is it?
October 12, 2051.
Tonight, we extend an invitation to sidestep the ordinary.
We invite you to a fleeting metamorphosis.
We don't dare to pretend that we can think, perceive, dream like another species,
But we know how to use our imagination to mold our own perceptions and consider radically distinct ways of intertwining with the unknown, the fragile, the repulsive, the wildest aspects within us,
Using fiction as a way to project what might unfold if we were different.
A stratagem to thwart our need to exist as humans amidst the present.
From this moment in this laboratory, in this year 2051, the sole reality is that of imagination.
We invite you to conjure forth a joyfully subversive fiction together.”
As part of the Etre(s) Ensemble exhibition, we crafted a performative workshop, to invite the public to explore the exhibition theme: the interplay between humans and other species.
I proposed a collaboration with scenographer Sheherazad Dermé, aspiring to construct a narrative inspired by the universe of Ursula K. Le Guin. The aim was to not only fire up the imagination but also to stimulate the senses of the audience, offering a palette of artistic references and multisensory experiments.
MEG Lab in partnership with AMIC / 2021-2022
The aim of cultural mediation was to deploy a project inspired by Living Labs, collaborating for this edition with around ten youths from the AMIC association. The ambition was to extend an opportunity to populations distanced from culture yet invested in specific collections, involving them in shaping the museum's public offerings.
I was invited to design a first iteration and propose a sustainable protocol for the future.
I conducted a series of collective workshops, immersing participants in the museum, manipulating objects drawn from the MEG collection in tandem with museum professionals. Together, we prototyped propositions, with artists invited to infuse their creativity and enrich the reflections.
The group's aspiration was to allow objects to come out of their showcases (literally or metaphorically), to go beyond the simple label to narrate the tales of the artifacts, making the museum experience more animated and interactive. Thus, the museum's permanent collection was enriched with a new object, an Eritrean Jebena (coffee pot). It occupies a showcase adorned with several immersive devices such as soundscapes, allowing the audience to hear a ritual around a Jebena and personal narratives about the object.