Eric Giraudet De Boudemange
Calais - Installation - 2010
presented as part of the exhibition Panorama 12
Installation
The starting point is a map: Calais, a territory on the border on which men are hounded; a stopover, a periphery. It is this ambivalent nature of the border that interests me. It is both limited/isolated, situated on the Eurotunnel zones and the port, and disperses the migrant populations that are spread out over the town, burrowed down "niches". The police checks and intimidations take place in Calais. The town is a border. I have been filming in Calais since October. My perception of the territory is constantly changing. However, I can feel that certain images withstand. The landscape of Calais bears the scars of its geostrategic situation through the ages. It is marked by the history of the Bourgeois, riddled with forts and citadels, from Vauban to the monoliths of the Third Reich. Today, the fortress has been reversed. It no longer has to protect the town against invasions, it blocks off movement, stops the migrants who try to escape in their tracks. My experience is one of restless wandering round a territory saturated with palimpsests. E.G.B.
