Public

Christian Robert-Tissot (Geneva, 1960)
Commissioned by: City of Geneva

Christian Robert-Tissot, an artist of language, handles text in various ways depending on the medium it is written on, and chooses his words according to the exhibition context. He intermixes typography, meaning, form, size and references in such a way that the viewer will interpret the statement in an open, mischievous way. Among the basalt tiles covering Place du Molard, attentive passers-by discover a textual work intermittently appearing under their feet. The engraved words inside the randomly distributed resin tiles were conceived and selected by the artist during the urban redevelopment of this public space. They are ordinary words, everyday expressions, greetings like ‘hello’, ‘goodnight’, ‘thank you’ and ‘welcome’ written in French, English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic, the six official languages of the United Nations. They encourage people to meander, and also evoke the multilingual dialogues at play in this plaza. Although discreet during the day, the illuminated tiles reveal themselves in the evening and contribute to the plaza’s nocturnal lighting. The distribution of these illuminated buttons becomes increasingly dense as one approaches the lake, heralding the lights of La Rade and the twinkling reflections on the water.
Article commissioned by P3Art
Notice: Séverine Fromaigeat, translation: Matthew Cunningham