Un fictionnaire

Benoît Luisière put down his suitcases in Commelle, in Isère, the time to intervene in the schools, elementary and kindergarten, of the village. He takes 145 children on a funny photographic adventure. Basically a simple subject: observe the object. But not just any, it will be about finding an object whose usefulness we do not know. To face the mystery, to let go in the incomprehensible and to reveal little by little the unsuspected.

"When one finds oneself in the presence of unknown objects whose usefulness one does not know, this question can become a real enigma. And when the unknown object has no finality, it generally escapes any attempt at definition: it becomes impossible for us to name it. But it is perhaps at this moment, faced with the domestic impasse, that we (re) become inventive, that we discover new possible answers. I want to suggest to the students of the school of Commelle to sympathize with the unknown by inventing probable uses for all these things, these things and other incomprehensible things that surround us. The children will be invited to collect "vacant" objects, and will reclaim these obscure gadgets, considering them, perhaps, for purposes other than those for which they are intended. We will assign them possible functions, we will give them a name, and we will draw up an inventory of all the finds where poetry could have use value."

First, the research phase. A meticulous, difficult phase. Finding an object that we know nothing about is not easy. And then there is always one to break the mystery, to restore the object to its “good” function. But little by little, the pleasure of ignorance takes hold and we begin to cherish it. “I know this object, that's my problem,” sighs one of the young explorers.

The second phase consists of reinventing the object. Staging it with an almost scientific, museum, or advertising photograph; give it a name, a new utility. With the utmost seriousness and attentive listening, Benoît Luisière welcomes each story, accompanies each image construction to gradually expand the strange dictionary. The thread of the imagination unfolds with spontaneity and freshness, a joyful disorder sets in. Music canister with “little white thing that comes out”, “igniter” to light broken down cars or to serve as corkscrews, flying mills with cheese holes, joy mold. The thread once pulled does not stop.

“Fiction: used to fix”, he is told. The dictionary becomes a dictionary, images and words come together in a book that everyone can make their own. And who knows, in two hundred years, perhaps we will find in the vicinity of Commelle a fantastic illustrated inventory offering to future generations a fascinating subject of study on the ability of humans of the time to use the “ grater-crêpe ”, the“ Trouet à small holes ”or the“ galette du monde ”.

Production: closed A5 format, 122 pages, printed in 200 copies, distributed to students and partners. Graphics: Benoît Luisière.

Training librarian, Benoît Luisiere turns to photography to question identity disorders. Half funny, half scary, these self-portraits reveal the deception, that of knowing what defines us and that of the image. He also collects signs, which he qualifies as a slip; meticulous inventory revealing a world where the absurd rivals poetry. He is a member of the Hans Lucas studio, exhibits in Paris, Lectoure, Toulouse, Metz, Beauvais. He publishes Other game published by Filigrane in 2014. In parallel with his practice, Benoît Luisière regularly works in collaborative projects with audiences.