Inside out

Barcelona, août 2016

La conférence avait lieu dans le centre des congrès, bâtiment visant la pure fonctionnalité. Salles numérotées, vidéoprojecteurs et écrans à l’intérieur, couloirs avec leurs tables garnies pour les pauses, tout semblait parfait pour accueillir les 1500 collègues présents. Nulle part, on ne voyait trace d’une particularité, d’un élément rappelant où nous nous trouvions. Décor apatride pour un rassemblement international.

The conference was being held at the convention center, a building aiming at pure functionality. Numbered rooms, projectors and screens within them, wide corridors with their tables filled for breaks, everything seemed perfect to host the 1500 colleagues. Nowhere, could be seen traces of a specific feature, an element reminding us where we were. A stateless setting for an international gathering.

In a corner, near silent escalators, large doors open to the outside. Beyond them, a wooden deck, pleasantly shaded by the building itself, gives a view over the city. In the background, half built buildings, their concrete structure magnified by the sunlight, waiting for better days. In the foreground, another structure, made of steel: the one that allows to fit the letters of the center. Decors have their inside out, every surface has a depth, every writing is based on an infrastructure.