caps

 

Caps (words put in context). 2004-2006. A series of 8 caps distributed in a public place for the vox populi (sidewalk interview). Printed caps, front and visor. Strasbourg and Sélestat in 2006. Endowed by UFCV and Région Alsace. Video: 5’47”.

We are so bombarded with words and slogans that they have lost much of their impact today. We are less inclined to confront words when they are put in context. Writings may indeed take on a different meaning on the top of a visor, over your eyes, or on your forehead.
Besides, a cap is an equivocal accessory: it protects us from the cold until the return of warm weather, shades us from the sun and yet limits our sight to the horizon of the visor.
Coiffed with a cap and visor, a passer-by is invited to play a game of limited perspective in which he stands up to another speaker and a camera while squinting up at the message printed on the visor of his cap. Contrary to the aims of advertising, this project is devised to incite John Doe to hold his ground in a face-to-face meeting with another speaker and a camera. And since it’s all about the sidewalk interview, it’s important to be a bit mad, but this time about what you have a mind to say.