migrating things : objects under the influence

Résumé

Migratory objects have always existed, be they people, gods, languages, utensils or viruses. At a time when how we treat people who are known as « migrants » has become a key issue, it is important to combat the demonization of the idea of migration by showing how migratory objects have become part of the fabric of this civilization that we call ours, and how they help it to spread and change. This exhibition, which occupies every part of the Vieille Charite, in the heart of the Panier neighbourhood, in Marseille, one of the Mediterranean's most cosmopolitan cities, is also a political project.It showcases different types of transformation due to migrations. Its originality lies above all in the creation of dialogue, not only between the here and the elsewhere, but between antiquity and the present day : visitors can see, side by side, the skyphos representing Ulysses on his raft made out of two amphorae and an eco-boat made out of plastic bottles, together with a New York taxi cab door reinvented as a black figure vase. What are hybridisation, cross-fertilisation, syncretism, inspiration and appropriation ? What is an object in a collection, at rest in a museum, a returned object and a shared object ? How exactly can we write its biography ? Should we not re-evaluate ideas of centre and periphery, original and copy, same and different, museum and museum object ? What do you think about what you see ?