PAVILION / Cabane d'écoute Maison Populaire
Montreuil, 2023
The Cabane d’écoute is a small listening pavilion for the courtyard of Maison Populaire in Montreuil next to Paris.
During the curatorial residency of Simona Dvorák and Tadeo Kohan it will be activated by selected audio pieces from several artists (starting with Catherine Radosa) and will complement the ongoing exhibitions in the main building.
The outer appearance is thought to be a folie to that the mixed intergenerational audience of Maison Populaire can emotionally relate to. It is the new camp figure among the group of garden pavilions hosting the center’s ateliers - using the same blue color but creating an otherness through scale and shape. The cabane’s weirdness triggers you to approach, explore and sneak in.
While the outside is quite bold through its color and form, the inside is light and neutral, featuring quite an unusual proportion: measuring only 2x1.5m, it has a height of up to 3.5m and appears even higher due to a transparent roof. The inner walls are covered in a smooth beige carpet and create a modest background for the artists’ very different audio pieces. A bended bench invites you to sit or lay down, listen to the sound and guide your view up into the sky.
The assemblance of the pavilion follows the principle of Re-Use. It is mainly constructed using the material resources of a former spatial intervention and can be dismantled and stored - the folie will disappear and may pop-up again in a different context and form.
Lexa Naicu