Circle of Influence

„Circle of Influence…“ is a ritual and a performance about community in the time of social distancing live-streamed from the courtyard of the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

Sunday 5th of April, 16:00 – 18:00
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A collective art project by:

Gin Bahc, Claudia Barcheri, Hannah Cooke, Immo Eyser, Pablo Garretón, HyunJin Kim, Philipp Lange, Dominik Rinnhofer, Jakub Šimčik, Katinka Theis and Lukas Zerbst

For more information please visit our blog  https://youopenabox.tumblr.com/ or or contact us.

„You open a box…“ is a collective art project which brings together German speaking artists from the residency program at Cité Internationale des Arts. The group had been meeting regularly for self-organised dinners and exchange rounds during a period when the grêve and Corona were radically changing the public spaces of Paris. They had been planning to open a portable exhibition in a bouquiniste box in front of Pont Marie on the 21st of March. A nationwide lockdown and the outbreak of a pandemic stopped the project from its realisation. On the day before all public space was closed down, the bouquiniste box was performatively installed briefly at its designated space.

This Sunday 5th of April the group will create a performance around the bouquiniste box and the documentation of their intervention to inaugurate a series of upcoming performance and exhibition projects in the courtyard of the Cité Internationale des Arts. The project will also be live-streamed on Instagram and Facebook.

The Bouquinistes

It has been said, that the Seine is the only river to flow between two book shelves. Much of the literature sold here since the 17th century was political agitation or uncensored boulevard newspapers, which would periodically be repressed by the state up until the city of Paris started issuing official concessions in 1859, thus gaining control over the content being sold. „You open a box…“ appropriates this history for a reflection on the role of community and the creation of personal and fragile borders during the Corona virus lockdown.