| Museum of the World, "extract" (Xinghua market of small objects) Djamel Kokene |
The Museum of the World is a formal research through various media on issues dealing with exhibition, museum, preservation, landscape and living or inanimate objects which has been conducted since 2006. Each form of the Museum of the World is by itself a specific proposal with each one leading to a particular and different reading.
As it is embedded in the public and urban space, whether private or not, the Museum of the World reveals itself as a visible and actual sign. A sign, as a variable of individual and collective imaginations making an image with the place where it is embedded, a place where ordinary daily actions are performed. The Museum of the World falls within the continuity of a life's moments because it is a part of it. The Museum of the World acts as a conjunction between the social imaginary, urban, individual and environment of daily life where it takes place.
This version of the Museum of the World sits in the heart of the "Xinghua market of small objects" whichs hosts various activities in its stalls and becomes the subject of a picture whose construction is fed by a set of living or inert objects collected from the various market craftsmen.
Arranged on shelves, some hanging, others mounted on the wall, each object is displayed in the composition like a piece of reality telling its own history, through its characteristic nature, shape and origin. As a mise en abyme, this presentation is a partial snapshot of a reality which forms the general composition of the picture where each displayed element is a detail thereof.
Between collective representation and everyday life, this scheme emphasizes the relation between the user (whether passing by or not) and the setting where he lives or through which he passes. A relation to be found in the goings and comings between everyone's daily reality and the collective representation implied by the reading of the writing MUSEUM OF THE WORLD, "Extract".
Djamel Kokene
L'Île Saint-Denis, june 15, 2012