«Traces de passages», a mirror of our thirst for immortality

The Lausanne train station is expanding, and to do so it needs more space. But how do you find more space when you're in the heart of a saturated city, where the smallest cm² is already in use? The answer is the same as when you're in charge of organizing the next Olympic Games: evict the tenants and destroy their living space! Some had only been there a few months, others for almost a lifetime. All welcomed us warmly at 26 rue du Simplon, where the «Traces de passages» exhibition, curated by Sébastien Martinet, was taking place.

It's an opportunity for everyone to enter into the intimacy of these residents, who open their doors to us so that we can discover the traces they have left there. We're invited to participate, whether by writing on the walls or sculpting what our imagination inspires in a piece of the pile of clay available in a kitchen. In the living room, a sofa and some peanuts are waiting for us, so that we can comfortably watch the video testimonials of some of the tenants, while the young woman who still occupies the premises sips her tea. «It's a bit of a mess but you can walk around».», she tells us. Upstairs, images and messages appear when the UV lamp in the bathroom is switched on. A little further up, while music plays through headphones on the walls, the floor is covered with dead leaves and smells of the forest.

This intimacy they offer us today, the building's tenants have also shared on a daily basis with all those travelers who have come to wait for a train or a loved one returning from a trip. An exhibition space, a train station, two gathering places where complete strangers find themselves so close and yet so far apart.

An ephemeral exhibition whose only lasting traces will be our memories, since every single wall, window and floor tile in this atypical gallery will be destroyed. Through installations and a wide range of media including sculpture, painting, graffiti, illustration and photography, «Traces de passages» questions our relationship with others, as well as our own ephemeral condition. With great talent and poetry, she reminds us of our phantasm of immortality and our need to leave a trace of our passage on earth so as not to be forgotten. One question remains unanswered: how would we have reacted if we'd found ourselves in the same situation?

«Traces de passage», exhibition at rue du Simplon 26, Lausanne, September 7 to 22, 10am to 7pm (more info here).

Write to the author: amelie.wauthier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credits: © Indra Crittin for Le Regard Libre