ANNE-LAURE FRANCHETTE

The series “A nos épaves” explores the question of waste. This artistic proposal is as much about the industrial history of materials that are difficult to dispose of, such as plastics, as it is about current explorations into the development of new materials capable of integrating and/or disintegrating harmoniously in different environments. 

Starting from the plastic waste from Lake Leman that has washed up in the Pro Natura nature reserve at the Pointe à la Bise site, the project was realized in collaboration with Manon Briod, exploring ideas of digestion through banners of bacterial polymers and organic waste (bioplastics, food pigments, sand and algae) and with Géraldine Honauer, exploring recycling in relation to ideas of “abstract” waste (visualised as poster). 

As a central element of the project, the reader provided an opportunity to share questions, thoughts and references that have emerged within the practice of Anne-Laure Franchette during the development of the series, in relation to the context of the biennial and of the nature reserve. It compiles photo documentation of the plastic waste collected on site, a waste lexicon, bioplastics samples, research and press articles which allow me to open up themes of conservation, production, value and materiality, examined through the perspective of plastic and its alternatives.

The installations and reader were showcased at the natural reserve of La Pointe à la Bise, chemin de la Réserve 8, 1222 Vésenaz, Geneva, Switzerland. The poster was all over the city during the time of the biennale.