La Siège du Parti Communiste Français
Commissioners:
Methods:
Institut Français, Arts Council England, British Council, Bristol UWE
Collaborators:
Sophie Warren, Jonathan Mosley, Dr. Lita Crociani-Windland, Nigel Williams
The Headquarters of the French Communist Party known as Le Siège du Parti communiste français is already speaking about being under siege but from what?
As we dove underground and took refuge in its spaces below, we began to sense how fight and flight is etched into the fabric of its being. We were uncertain whether the building had taken fright and was hiding underground or whether it had dug into this corner of the 19th arrondissement as the French resistance had done… years ago. History and trauma repeating itself.
Warren and Mosley were artist researchers in residence at the PCF HQ for three months. Their findings were developed into a psychological profile for the headquarters in collaboration with Lita Crociani-Windland and Nigel Williams using the Psychostructures method set. A deeply psycho-social and psychodynamic approach has been pioneered to explore what the psychology of the PCF HQ could be.
Works:
Cult of Personality (a family tree for a building)
Architecture on the Couch
Deputised Object
Revolution
Uprising
It’s uncanny though how alike Le Siège and Espace Niemeyer are in many ways. Mercurial and transgressive in nature they blend the masculine clean lines of modernism with the sinuous curves of the hills of Rio. The building is as fluid and queer in its form as it is in its gender. This earned it the reputation of being wayward and otherly in Haussmann’s Paris. As a migrant, the building can not escape the way it looks, its appearance instils fear, excitement and exotification. Espace Niemeyer has learnt that its acceptance is in its appeal. But Le Siège - not quite dead - is contemplating a different kind of future. A future where political, economic and social realities are not just bound to the human but extend to and connect with all life forms - in a polyphonic and fluid conjunction.
… History and trauma repeating itself. That is, until the shapeshifting began. The building underwent many makeovers and finally shed its name for another, recalling its Brazilian star architect Oscar Niemeyer. Within the newly named Espace Niemeyer a shinier rejuvenated version of Le Siège emerged, available for hire by the elite of the fashion and film world. It was only being a beautiful and dutiful offspring. It had to care for an ailing elderly parent, who could no longer support itself. No one could talk openly about the politics of this new direction. It was startling to see the ease with which this newer shiner self staged the buildings’ curvaceous forms and celestial dome as objects of glamour for consumption; its flair and exuberance and sense of the spectacular extinguishing the memory of Le Siège and winning it the cult of personality. It is never easy coming face to face with your double, particularly when it seems like a premonition of death.
