Exploration spéculative [speculative exploration]
“We don’t want to be on the map, we don’t want to be located, we want to be situated.” (G.P.)
“Summer 2020. We once again met over Zoom. Then we met in a park, at a distance. Thus began the process of collaboration in preparation for the residency. I won’t go into the details of our conversations. However, in these troubled times marked by collective anxiety, I can tell you that there was a lot of uncertainty and wandering in our discussions. That’s how we set up an exploration with a still completely unstable goal. On the other hand, I can tell you that the project navigates somewhere between Île Jésus and the lower Saint-Lawrence river, in the troubled and anachronistic waters of prospective archaeology, speculative architecture, science fiction and uchronia.
A message captured during a brief exchange between the teams on the ground offers an initial lead:
- Horta, Urban Unit here, do you hear us?
- Hello Urban Unit, I hear you loud and clear.
- Horta, we just discovered a future plot on the territory of Laval. We’re now beginning to explore it.
More messages will follow…”
— Eric Mattson
