Philosophie de l'ameublement
Emmanuelle Lainé

The new EMS Nouveau Prieuré building gives its residents, elderly people who receive care, a view onto a large light well situated in the centre of their collective living space. The monumental well, with bay windows on three sides and a large white wall extending 18 metres high, resembles a large, empty vertical aquarium. Although people on neighbouring floors can be seen through the large windows, the sense of emptiness felt by the residents and employees meant they wanted the light well to be “inhabited”  by an artistic intervention, so that it would be “warmer, and give them impression of being at home”.

Emmanuelle Lainé

The work proposed by Emmanuelle Lainé consists of large photographs installed on the blind wall of the well, and which precisely match the dimensions of the bay windows. The photographs create a trompe-l’oeil effect by faithfully reproducing the living space of the EMS, including some furniture items, in such a way as to give the impression of extending the existing architecture. On closer inspection, the eye is drawn to a series of objects that “inhabit” this domestic space in an off-kilter manner. The viewer starts looking for surprising details—an anamorphic image in the stretched patterns on a sofa, that can only be seen by looking at it from a neighbouring floor. The domestic composition transforms into a surreal and contemporary “still life”, provoking conversation and prompting reverie.