Many artists worked with the Fabrique Phantom this year: Ismaïl Bahri, Alex Pou, Graeme Thomson and Silvia Maglioni, Vincent Chevillon, but Pierre Michelon was one of the most assiduous. He developed the first part of his multiform project concerning the political past and present in Guyana: “Un petit morceau de bois”.
Following the performance that David Legrand offered as part of the “Phantom Monday” series, consecrated to Pierre Michelon’s film (currently in editing) Un petit morceau de bois, the latter composed a sound piece that reviews the themes underlying his project. This never pronounced speech by André Malraux in Cayenne serves as the starting point for a sensitized approach to the historic search he leads in concert with Jean Mariema, an important figure in Guyanese militancy. Proceeding with the reenactment of a text that documents an event that never occurred allows him to apprehend an important episode in the history of the departmentalization of French Guyana: the September 1958 referendum that questioned the Constitution of the 5th Republic of France. Through the editing of voices and accounts of André Malraux and Jean Mariema, Un petit morceau de bois reassesses and updates the issues of this “non-event”. “Do you approve of the Constitution that has been proposed to you by the Government of the Republic?” Question that remained(s) without an answer, or constantly vitiated by the Guyanese struggles that continue into the present indicative: economic isolation, social cohesion, official or secret pillaging, the autonomous University of…
Installation de Pierre Michelon à l’Espace Khiasma (avril 2014) © Matthieu Gauchet
Performance de David Legrand (« discours non-prononcé d’André Malraux ») à l’Espace Khiasma en avril 2014 © Matthieu Gauchet
Projection d’une version de travail du film « Un petit morceau de bois » dans le cadre du Lundi de Phantom n°11 à L’Espace Khiasma (avril 2014) © Matthieu Gauchet
Pierre Michelon échangeant avec le public au terme de la projection © Matthieu Gauchet
