Description
Designed for the Citadel of Besançon, the work Biometric Control consists of a post topped with a small sign reading: ‘Biometric Control’. Below this inscription, an arrow points to the left.
This message evokes a system found in airports: easier access to boarding areas for those who agree to undergo biometric screening.
Visitors to the Citadel see this enigmatic sign and, once they are close to it, realise that it is a decoy: there is no screening when they follow the arrow.
This incongruous object thus confronts two modes of control: Vauban’s military architecture, both a monumental obstacle and a clever geometric design, designed to channel the flow of attackers, and contemporary digital technology, which, thanks to fingerprint and facial recognition, identifies those who can and cannot travel the world.
Those who come to admire the Citadel and immerse themselves in its history are thus invited to question the presence of borders and the ingenuity deployed over the centuries to defend them. And, perhaps, their very usefulness.
Action
Bien Urbain 12
10 days : from 7 to 15 June 2025
17 invited artists or artist collectives : 3615 Señor (FR) // Adélaïde Racca (FR) // Blo (FR) // Carole Douillard (FR) // Carole Karlen-Renahy (FR) // Charlotte Beltzung (FR) // Chuglu (FR) // Club Superette (FR) // Duncan Passmore (UK) // Florent Dubois (FR) // Hélène Marian (FR) // ici l’onde (FR) // Julien Berthier (FR) // Laura Tisserand (FR) // Magnétophonie (FR) // Martin Le Chevallier (FR) // Toxoplasma (SW)
Biographie
Martin Le Chevallier is a French visual artist, filmmaker and author. He lives and works in Paris. He studied graphic design at ESAG, then video at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. His works address social, economic and political issues.
Since the late 1990s, Martin Le Chevallier has been developing work that takes a critical look at contemporary ideologies and myths. His works take the form of videos, installations, interventions, and even video games.
In 2024, he published the Répertoire des subversions, an inventory of the forms of action used by artists and activists to thwart the violence of domination with unprecedented non-violent actions.
Based on this work, he proposes to reactivate certain militant actions in the parade ‘brandirons-nous cela demain ?’ (will we brandish this tomorrow?).
Crédits
Elisa Murcia Artengo et Anabelle Michon