Collective Memories
I. “The House of Eternity”
I. “The House of Eternity”
Collective Memories
II.“Out of the Walls”
II.“Out of the Walls”
Notes
1 Synopsis - ‘’The House of Eternity“ is a multimedia installation paying tribute to miners who lost their lives in the mines.
All the images are brought together in a structure reminiscent of a mine tunnel, a veritable ‘house of eternity’, so named by the artist in reference to Egyptian tombs.
Techniques - Monumental wooden structure composed of photographs printed on Plexiglas and glass and video projections
Collaboration -
Design - Claire Ducène
Structure created by Endless House Collective (Claire Ducène and Nicolas Riquette)
Production - THANKSgalerie
Archives - Archives of the Belgian Communist Party, contemporary landscapes, family archivesDatas - Group exhibition entitled ‘Pulsations. Visages d’une Cité’ at the Museum of Fine Arts in Mons, where 40 artists explore the city from every angle, 2025
Captions -
1/ View of the installation "House of Eternity”, Museum of Fine Arts of Mons, 2025
2/Personal archive of Claire Ducène where her grandmother Claire Thône poses in front of miners' lamps, Charleroi in the 60s
2 Synopsis - The Endless House collective has created an architectural structure in the heart of the glass roof of the Uccle Cultural Centre, evoking an aviary from which memories collected from elderly residents of the Tillens nursing home escape.
‘Out of the Walls’ takes us into an architectural space dedicated to the memories of its inhabitants: from migratory birds to spaces between the past and the present.I don't remember anymore, but there was the old mill street, a street that sloped steeply down to Chaussée Saint-Job, but it joined Chaussée Saint-Job much further along the road. It was the neighbourhood where lots of people played with pigeons and kept pigeons at home. - Meeting on 13 April 2023 - Mr Charles talks about the carrier pigeons of Uccle
Techniques - Monumental sculptural architecture representing an aviary from which Mr Charles' memories escape through his voice, but also through sculptures, photographs and archives.
Collaboration -
Endless House Collective is a collective formed by visual artists Claire Ducène and Nicolas Riquette in 2016.
Passionate about houses, outdoor and indoor spaces, they constantly revisit the concept of the ‘endless house’ and have exhibited in unusual spaces. Their installations consist of huge labyrinthine wooden structures inside which archives, documents, videos, sculptures, paintings, engravings, drawings, etc. are mixed together. --> More infos: here
Archives - Monumental sculptural architecture representing an aviary from which Mr Charles' memories escape through his voice, but also through sculptures, photographs and archives.Datas - The entrance hall of the Uccle Cultural Centre (CCU), 2023
Captions -
1/ Endless House X _ Out of the Walls, installation created in the hall of the Uccle Cultural Center transformed into an aviary of memories, mixed techniques: monumental sculptural structure, video, images, sound recordings
2/ Residents of Maison Tillens, including Mr. Charles, sound workshop, 2022
1 Synopsis - ‘’The House of Eternity“ is a multimedia installation paying tribute to miners who lost their lives in the mines.
All the images are brought together in a structure reminiscent of a mine tunnel, a veritable ‘house of eternity’, so named by the artist in reference to Egyptian tombs.
Techniques - Monumental wooden structure composed of photographs printed on Plexiglas and glass and video projections
Collaboration -
Design - Claire Ducène
Structure created by Endless House Collective (Claire Ducène and Nicolas Riquette)
Production - THANKSgalerie
Archives - Archives of the Belgian Communist Party, contemporary landscapes, family archivesDatas - Group exhibition entitled ‘Pulsations. Visages d’une Cité’ at the Museum of Fine Arts in Mons, where 40 artists explore the city from every angle, 2025
Captions -
1/ View of the installation "House of Eternity”, Museum of Fine Arts of Mons, 2025
2/Personal archive of Claire Ducène where her grandmother Claire Thône poses in front of miners' lamps, Charleroi in the 60s
2 Synopsis - The Endless House collective has created an architectural structure in the heart of the glass roof of the Uccle Cultural Centre, evoking an aviary from which memories collected from elderly residents of the Tillens nursing home escape.
‘Out of the Walls’ takes us into an architectural space dedicated to the memories of its inhabitants: from migratory birds to spaces between the past and the present.I don't remember anymore, but there was the old mill street, a street that sloped steeply down to Chaussée Saint-Job, but it joined Chaussée Saint-Job much further along the road. It was the neighbourhood where lots of people played with pigeons and kept pigeons at home. - Meeting on 13 April 2023 - Mr Charles talks about the carrier pigeons of Uccle
Techniques - Monumental sculptural architecture representing an aviary from which Mr Charles' memories escape through his voice, but also through sculptures, photographs and archives.
Collaboration -
Endless House Collective is a collective formed by visual artists Claire Ducène and Nicolas Riquette in 2016.
Passionate about houses, outdoor and indoor spaces, they constantly revisit the concept of the ‘endless house’ and have exhibited in unusual spaces. Their installations consist of huge labyrinthine wooden structures inside which archives, documents, videos, sculptures, paintings, engravings, drawings, etc. are mixed together. --> More infos: here
Archives - Monumental sculptural architecture representing an aviary from which Mr Charles' memories escape through his voice, but also through sculptures, photographs and archives.Datas - The entrance hall of the Uccle Cultural Centre (CCU), 2023
Captions -
1/ Endless House X _ Out of the Walls, installation created in the hall of the Uccle Cultural Center transformed into an aviary of memories, mixed techniques: monumental sculptural structure, video, images, sound recordings
2/ Residents of Maison Tillens, including Mr. Charles, sound workshop, 2022
Chapter (5)
~ Collective Memories
"The past is not a natural element. It belongs to memory
- that is to say, to a poetic rather than a science...
Memory is a process, not a result."
– Georges Didi-Huberman
- that is to say, to a poetic rather than a science...
Memory is a process, not a result."
– Georges Didi-Huberman
In his large-scale scenic installations, the artist creates spaces where memory is brought to life through the narration of collective stories.
Often created in collaboration with Endless House Collective (shared with Nicolas Riquette), these projects explore how history, whether personal or political, is inscribed in places and bodies.
With “La Maison d'éternité”, inspired by the narratology of Egyptian tombs, the aim is not to pay tribute to dignitaries, but to those who worked in the mines of her native region, La Louvière. The memory of the workers, their struggles and their silences find here a symbolic space that celebrates the dignity of the miners and their place in a collective memory that is often forgotten.
In Out of the Walls, the focus turns to the Uccle area in Brussels.
The testimonies collected evoke pigeon fancier societies, where carrier pigeons took flight, inscribing an emotional and shared memory in the sky.
The whole is conceived as a vast immaterial aviary where these voices are set free and rejoin a bygone world, imbued with a gentle and vibrant nostalgia.
Often created in collaboration with Endless House Collective (shared with Nicolas Riquette), these projects explore how history, whether personal or political, is inscribed in places and bodies.
With “La Maison d'éternité”, inspired by the narratology of Egyptian tombs, the aim is not to pay tribute to dignitaries, but to those who worked in the mines of her native region, La Louvière. The memory of the workers, their struggles and their silences find here a symbolic space that celebrates the dignity of the miners and their place in a collective memory that is often forgotten.
In Out of the Walls, the focus turns to the Uccle area in Brussels.
The testimonies collected evoke pigeon fancier societies, where carrier pigeons took flight, inscribing an emotional and shared memory in the sky.
The whole is conceived as a vast immaterial aviary where these voices are set free and rejoin a bygone world, imbued with a gentle and vibrant nostalgia.
Memories are like the wind; they create clouds (J. Supervielle), digital collage, 2023
