Bureau Doove – creative consultancy

The temporary exhibition space used in the Lavoisier building of the University of Rouen is envisaged as an indoor public square, a space for circulation. This notion of circulation is related to the idea of a circle. The circle is seen here as a space for exchange and confrontations, whether soft or not.

Edward T. Hall’s proxemic theory, developed in The Hidden Dimension, is also related to the notion of circle. There is the intimate circle, then, expanding concentrically, the personal circle, the social circle and the public circle. On the floor of the building are drawn two circles, the personal circle and the social circle (1.25m and 3.60m). In the centre there are two speakers. On one we can hear a part of the song Les Moulins de mon Coeur (Nathalie Dessay, Michel Legrand) and on the other the chorus of the song Le Cercle (Sofiane ft. Hornet the Strike, GLK, YL). One is a love song, the other a song depicting the circle as a­ brutal confrontation. Spectators are invited to approach, cross the boundaries of the circles drawn on the ground, thus intertwining their own circles, to hear the music on the speakers.