“Tu fais pas le poids” a.k.a. “I’m tougher than you think”
With this project, my intention was to get people question this obviousness: the ground is solid, by definition and principle, it cannot be otherwise.
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Thus, I envisioned covering the floor with plaster tiles.
I thought they would break at first contact. I even imagined I may have to test some more delicate way of crawling on the floor in order to keep it unbroken for a longer time.
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It made me think of the relationship that is usually made between weight and authority, value, power or consistency and my quest for an alliance in between a certain lightness and floating approach and the strength that originates in being grounded.
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Practically, I first tested walking, running, jumping on a paper porcelain tile (unfired): even if it was looking very fragile and crumbling, it didn’t break.
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I then thought I would cover the floor with tiles which would all look the same, but some being in plaster (I still thought at that point that those would break - hold your breath...), some others in paper porcelain: when crossing the room, people would have the surprise to have some tiles breaking or broken and some others remaining as untouched. Yet, the plaster tile didn’t break either - except when on an irregular floor/carpet…
The final installation would be a whole room covered with plaster tiles. Some might break accidentally.
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The whole process was playful and surprising - It didn’t contradict the original idea, nonetheless adding still more paradox into it.
Here are some pictures taken when we collectively "tested" my first plaster tiles small collection.