Residency with Hortense Soichet: Stories and Images from Clichy (92). Starting from today's city, we go back in time through testimonies that reflect the experience and sense of ownership felt by residents toward their city.

A city being reshaped and densified. Bringing forth a sensitive image of the city, one that reflects transformations not only in the built environment, but also in gestures, ways of feeling, and life rhythms.

What makes this city unique? How was it built? What kind of relationship develops with those who live there? More generally, what is a city the product of? What trace does it leave in people's memories? I like to think that it is its inhabitants who make the city, and that the relationship is mutual.

To reveal the richness of these places, we wanted to consider their social use value for residents. From the outset, we were interested in a broad, comprehensive view of heritage, highlighting "memorial and perceptual heritage" considered in its relational dynamic—reflecting the experience and sense of ownership residents feel toward their city. The environment is sometimes shaped by memories that give meaning to things. In this way, a city's identity lies in the mix of the immaterial embedded in its places. There are things we see, and things we feel.

As the investigation unfolded, a sensitive map took shape. Clichy was redrawn through the imagination of its people. Memories that unfold, diverge, intertwine: we journey from personal stories to the history of a collective memory.

Told in this way, the city reveals a sensitive image of transformations—not only of buildings, but of gestures, ways of feeling, and life rhythms.

The exhibition gives full space to these testimonies, and visitors can leave their own—freely and spontaneously—to enrich the exhibition. A small memory lab to collect, preserve, enhance, and transmit this intangible heritage tied to places in the city. Art center: Le Pavillon Vendôme in Clichy.

The exhibition is accompanied by the book "C'est mon pavé, c'est mon bitume", published by Créaphis Éditions.
The soundtrack can be listened to at this link.