Silkscreens on glass and paper made with pigments fabricated from demolition brick debris. Variable dimensions, 2023-2025.

Visual artist and architect Mercedes Klausner invited researcher Anna Saint-Pierre to collaborate on a research project carried out in Roubaix, within the framework of an urban transformation plan for the working-class Épeule district. The ornamented brick façades of the workers’ houses neighboring the former Clarisses Monastery, a listed historical monument, are about to be demolished. Some see this as a gesture intended to highlight the monastery at the expense of the surrounding “small heritage” architecture and its residents.

Using brick debris collected from demolition sites in the neighborhood, Anna and Mercedes established a chromatic reference system aimed at preserving, in the form of silkscreens, the views from the monastery windows.

For the exhibition Que veux-tu, brique? at CID Grand-Hornu in Mons, an installation is presented, composed of two images made from powdered brick rubble on glass: one representing part of the façade of the Clarisses Monastery chapel—what remains—and the other, the façade of a neighboring house destined to disappear.
Displayed on a plinth, the images become clearer in their shadow through light projection. Overlapping effects between the images appear, evoking the historical image-fading technique known as Dissolving Views, achieved using magic lanterns.

Project carried out with the support of the French Ministry of Culture. AIC Grant 2023–2024 – DRAC Hauts-de-France.