Created by Douglas Cabel and Filipe Vilas-Boas, La Couture (2017) is a monumental light installation exploring our social fabric in the time of social networks. Designed to be adapted to the architecture and urban fixtures of each city it visits, the work makes use of and reconfigures the public areas in which it appears by forging unexpected links. Born of a desire to recreate IRL ties (In Real Life) by ignoring the physical or mental barriers that divide us, the installation is a symbolic suture at the very heart of the city. Initially designed to sew Paris back together with its suburbs, the installation moves from city to city with the task of bringing opposite sides a little closer together, repairing a territory torn apart or simply emphasising a vital connection. Pulling this common thread together, the needle completes the picture and bears witness to the ongoing, unfinished, constantly renewed and essential work in creating these ties.
We are currently experiencing a paradox, the more we're in contact via digital apps and platforms, the more we feel the need to weave links without screens between us. 'La Couture', 'The Seam' in french evokes this idea.
- Art + Prod: Douglas Cabel & Filipe Vilas-Boas
- Web: Christophe Carvalho Vilas-Boas