Until December 20th, 67–79 rue de Rivoli is home to the exhibition Ma Samaritaine 2015. This new edition brings together seven photographers’ visions of the famous Paris department store, La Samaritaine. Michael Ackerman, Pierre-Olivier Deschamps, JH Engström, Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre, Sarah Moon, and George Rousse explored the eleven stories of the building inaccessible for the last decade to the public before its upcoming renovation.
Meeting with Christian Cajole, the curator of the exhibition and the project manager.
Why does the medium of photography accompany the transitional phase and the transformative architectural gesture at the new Samaritaine ?
This has to do with a series of encounters as well as a need for and an understanding of the medium and its current importance. When Marie-Line Antonios, director of La Samaritaine, contacted me, we realized that this project — one of the most important in the heart of Paris in terms of architecture, involving a mythical structure and raising questions about its future — had lost part of its memory following the destruction of archives. It was therefore important to try to reconstitute those lost memories as well as construct new ones of the building’s transformation. It all started with an inventory by Pierre Olivier Deschamps and with the search for archival documents,that is still ongoing. It became obvious that photography was, or could be, the most relevant medium for documenting and exploring the project through combining a range of perspectives, soliciting different points of view, and by remaining open-minded. The photographers were able to record a situation,offer new angles,with today perspectives. . It’s this relevance of contemporary photography to an extremely ambitious project that determined our decision. However, even if we want to preserve traces of what once was, our project is devoid of nostalgia; instead, there is respect, passion, projected into a city in the process of transformation.
How does this third installment Ma Samaritaine 2015 fit in with the two preceding projects? Is there going to be a sequel ?
By choosing well-known recognizable authors, with very diverse styles, we wanted both to invite compelling points of view and leave the door open to surprises. And there is no shortage of those! Even though they were given carte blanche, the photographers were faced with an exercise in applied photography, in a specific place, with all its contingencies, its history, and its ongoing transformation. Since construction work is already under way, we also knew that this was going to be the last time that we would be able to have these artists’ insights into this place even as it is being modified. The final result, extremely challenging from an aesthetic point of view, also represents a segment of memory of La Samaritaine—and of Paris, as well. Plus we thought it would be interesting to bring together professional photographers who are accustomed to analyzing architecture and those who are new to the subject.
The experience will of course continue in different ways, tracking the progress of the renovation, with several modalities for following the work, and the interventions of new prestigious authors.
EXHIBITION
Ma Samaritaine 2015
Michael Ackerman, Pierre-Olivier Deschamps, JH Engström, Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre, Sarah Moon and Georges Rousse
From October 17th to December 20th, 2015
67-73 rue de Rivoli (angle rue de Rivoli et rue des Bourdonnais)
75001 Paris
France
Free Entrance
http://projet.samaritaine.com
