October 18 – November 18, 2023
Yves Mettler‘s work aims to build an understanding of today’s global urbanization processes. His work spans from interventions in public spaces to sound installations. Since 2002, he has been developing a research and art practice focused on urban places, known as “Europe Square”, cultivating the spaces between urban reality and symbolic values.
Table ronde sur les récits judiciaires de l’Europe (19-20 octobre 2023)
Designed with the support of the Jean Monnet EUNMUTE Center of Excellence of the Institute for European Studies in counterpoint to the colloquium on the judicial narratives of Europe (19-20 October 2023), the installation “Place de l’Europe (Speaking Rights)” was conceived as the opening in a transit location of a friendly space allowing passers-by to rest, gather and immerse themselves in a series of audio dialogic narratives.
A platform and stage, built with recolourised site signs and beer boxes, immediately appear as temporary and festive. The signs bear the name “Place de l’Europe” in some 30 official and non-official languages of the European Union, temporarily renaming the place where they appear. The beer boxes of different brands obviously recall the celebration, but also a culture of great richness and always innovative, also recognizable as building blocks diverted in the culture of DIY, build it yourself.
Stickers with headlines and keywords, as well as a well-established QR code, allowing passers-by to download six ten-minutes audio dialogues are displayed on the gallery and stage. Each dialogue presents in a simple and humorous way two or three rulings of the European Court of Justice and how they contribute and feed on the narratives that build Europe. The installation thus depicts the Court of Justice not only as a concrete actor in European daily life, but also as the initiator and sounding board of certain representations of Europe.
