Michel de Broin – Mortier Fati – Lignes de lumière, 2024

Through sculpture, installation, video and performance, Michel de Broin uses metaphor and analogy to generate thought about things public, social and political. His combinations and juxtapositions of everyday objects radically transform their meaning, creating systems that bring into play forces of attraction, repulsion and mutual support. His work seeks to define the way human relationships function as a set of mutually induced and mutually responsive acts.

Michel de Broin’s light installation on the vaulted ceiling of the Grandes Locos highlights the building’s cracks and the traces of repairs. Entitled Mortier Fati – Lignes de lumière (“Mortier Fati – Lines of Light”), the work is inspired by mortar — a mixture of cement, lime, sand and water used as a binder in construction — which holds the various components together physically and symbolically restores ties between people. Michel de Broin’s artistic installation refers to the Nietzschean notion of amor fati (“love of one’s fate”), which invites us to accept our fate rather than wage war against the inevitable. It celebrates resilience and the beauty of imperfections in a place that in a previous life was used as a locomotive repair yard.