Public Space / in-Situ

A Pragmatic Undertaking | Although intended for public spaces, Cécile Pitois’ creations, entitled Sculptures à Souhaits – Wishing Sculptures – are not the end result of a typical public commission. At the outset, no commission was formulated by any patron. She emphasizes that it is, first and foremost, her interest in a city and its people, in social life, that pushes her to create pieces for urban space. Acting on her own initiative, she selects the locations for her works herself, the former being dictated not by their visibility but rather by their social and symbolic value.

Initially, Cécile Pitois follows a pragmatic and intuitive process that leads her to explore a given territory in order to capture a powerful element or determine a work angle before developing it further by prolonging or confronting this guiding line through a series of investigations. To this end, she relies on both documentary research and on encounters that give her an opportunity to glean information about the location, its history and its social life. Little by little, through the inhabitants’ varied perspectives, she sees the emergence of important elements.