Mémoire(s) du présent — Aubervilliers
Writing an intergenerational manifesto on the memory of the built environment, through photography and collected testimony, as urban renewal reshapes the Villette Quatre-Chemins neighbourhood in Aubervilliers. The photographs were taken by a collective of young people, older residents and recent arrivals.
Keeping memory through urban renewal
The neighbourhood changes daily; every day, pieces of the built environment that shaped everyday life — fifty years of it, for some — disappear. Yet unlike listed buildings, working-class neighbourhoods have barely been photographed.
That is what la F compagnie set out to do with this exhibition: gather the images and memories attached to the buildings and spaces due to be altered — a collection made by the 93 Grand Angle collective, by and for the people who live there.
Sound creation
I wrote the exhibition’s soundtrack: the dramaturgical structure and its division into chapters, the orchestration of the interviews recorded with residents, and the score that carries them.
Credits
Artistic direction: Philippe Fenwick. Associate artist: Hortense Raynaud. Associate photographers: Clémence Cardot, Hamed Diabira, Maëlle Diarra, Olivia Moura, Hortense Raynaud. Sound creation: Émilie Zawadzki. Interviews: Maëlle Diarra, Philippe Fenwick. Listening and selection: Tal Agam. Production: la F compagnie.
Photographers, 93 Grand Angle collective — Aubervilliers: Ikram Antari, Melbrouha Benmaouche, Mireille Bernadino, Pricille Bohui, Nordine Bouaou, Clémence Cardot, Bouchera Alaoui Chrifi, Kradija Alaoui Chrifi, Redouane Alaoui Chrifi, Dominique Claveau, Gilles Claveau, Fatima Diakhite, Irène Espinous, Alain Fejan, Reinette Godard, Mélina Hadjab, Javad Hashemi, Seyed Javad Hashemi, Myriam Kante, Goufrane Kridane, Noushin Lak, Corso Léliva, Irina Novodski, Fatima Omani, Mohamed Oukalti, Diariata Sacko, Gundo Sacko, Amin Sharouin, Jasmine Sebbar, Jean-Marc Sidous, Assa Soumaré, Tochukwu, Kamissa Traore.
The exhibition opened on 20 September 2025 at CRR 93 Jack Ralite in Aubervilliers, free entry.