“Intramuros”, a practical implementation and presentation of the project "Space Impressions" (Impressions d'Espaces).
Intramuros is a presentation of the research-creation project Space Impressions, applied to the urban gates of the medinas of Tunis, Sfax, and Sousse. It was carried out following a one-and-a-half-month residency at Villa Salammbô of the Institut Français in 2024. Our exploration first led us to record conversations and interviews with residents, journalists, historians, urban planners, and architects about the gates of the medinas. We then interpreted the various representations (core ideas, narratives, emotions, etc.) collected, confronting them with our own imagination. Our approach led us to materialize these reflections through various sensory forms, which we presented during the residency’s final exhibition (December 2024).
Related links :
- Article about our project at Villa Salammbô on LaPresse.tn, written by Asma DRISSI (Fr):
«Impressions d’Espaces» : à la croisée des seuils et des mémoires urbaines
- Interview on the Tunis Afrique Presse Agency portal by Sarra BELGUITH (Fr):
- Theoretical development: Space Impressions
Representations of the Gate
An Imagery of the Medinan Gate and Wall through a Transdisciplinary Approach
Our duo PROCESSUS set itself the goal of going to the medinas of three major Tunisian cities — Tunis, Sousse, and Sfax — and drawing from them the visual and sound essence around the theme of the urban gate. According to the different configurations that presented themselves to us — an invisible wall in Tunis, a rehabilitated and redesigned enclosure on the outskirts in Sousse, and a raw and decaying rampart in Sfax — the testimonies, sound recordings, and interventions varied. Following the protocol we had set for ourselves, we first collected a set of impressions, which we confronted with our own imaginaries and questions, then sorted and catalogued into around twenty key representations, which guided several of our creations.
Thus, phrases such as “Sfax is a city that is falling,” “the sea gate is the face of the city,” “the current gates of the cities are the airport and the train station,” “there is the intramuros and the extramuros,” “the stalled projects of the medina,” “every development must create a world,” “the gate is a carefully scenographed space,” “the medina is one and the same body,” “a feminine urbanism,” etc., punctuated our interviews during our wanderings. These remarks allowed us to build a tangible body of knowledge and representations of the gate, which we then tried to give form to. The two main works, A City That Is Falling and Camouflage, are clearly the fruit of this collection.
The interest of such a collaboration between two people coming from distinct disciplines — urban planning and geography for one, and visual arts for the other — is that it directly confronts us with the experience of the other’s discipline, even if, in our case, there are many overlaps. Thus, the imperative of problematization for one, and the necessity of formalization for the other — our work seems to have carved a path between these two dimensions. In any case, it is an organic process of production and communication between us: each of us already has an interest in the other’s discipline, a knowledge or even a practice of it, with the artistic and the scientific deeply interwoven here. All of these elements are no doubt what gives Intramuros its unique materiality, somewhere between sensory, plastic works and inventories.
The material gathered in the field and the very space of the studio (with its strongly “administrative” tones) were an essential source of inspiration for the development of the exhibition. It seemed to us that this exhibition, which presented around ten original pieces, could serve as a kind of urban planning “manifesto”: living material far from the plans and close to the people.
“Intramuros: Echo Chamber”
Sound recording broadcast space, Restitution Villa Salammbô, 67’, 2024.
The sound recordings we made in public spaces and with various participants—residents, journalists, historians, urban planners or architects, and Tunisian and French NGO representatives—are edited into a mosaic of sounds that follow each other in a random sequence. This editing thus offers an « echo chamber » for the ideas and reflections entrusted to us about the sites we visited. The echo is also the clamor of the street heard in the different recordings, depending on whether one is entering or leaving the medina, heading toward its bustling commercial streets or its hidden alleys.
« Supermédina »
Inventory of the urban gates of the medinas of Sfax, Tunis, and Sousse.
Office folders, printed on ivory paper, and handwritten notes. 500 x 100 cm, 2024.
This frieze, five meters long and made up of 30 administrative envelopes in craft paper with transparent flaps, aims to present an inventory of the gates our duo passed through during our research. In a systematic way, each gate is photographed head-on within its broader or narrower environment and then collaged. Handwritten notes are affixed to the envelope as a testimony of our visit, deliberately avoiding any overly technical or urbanistic approach. Instead, the focus is on anecdotal aspects, details, or simple surrounding descriptions. A map the size of an iPhone screen, showing a satellite view with the gate at the center and illustrating the urban fabric, is inserted into the pre-cut flap template.
« A City That Falls »
Scraps of faux leather, foam, acrylic paint, and light source, 2024.
“A City That Falls” is an installation composed of leftover materials from the cobbler artisans of the medina of Sfax, who work at the West Gate. It echoes the interview of a local resident describing the current state of heritage and its preservation. He ends his account with these words: “Sfax is a city that falls”. While walking past the artisans’ workshops, we collected scraps of materials, guided by the association of ideas between the french words chutes (scraps/falls) and tomber (to fall). From there, we represented the medina as a rectangular volume, adorned with long, soft, and organic strips of leather. On the walls, the more rigid scraps, resembling grids, schematize the European city—the modern, generic city that surrounds it.
The shadow of the ruin of the medieval city also hangs over the modern developments, which are not spared from it.
« Camouflage »
Perfumes in bottles and print on paper, 2024.
“Camouflage” is an interactive installation that reproduces the map of the medina of Sfax, symbolically marking the presence of the many perfumers lining its entrances and main thoroughfares. This presence is represented by perfume bottles whose names parody well-known brands*. On the wall, evocative phrases drawn from our sound recordings are printed on paper strips resembling perfume testers. Visitors are invited to detach these strips and dip them into the bottles, thereby diluting the phrase. This action echoes the ritual of the hirz, a practice common in certain regions of Tunisia, which often involves writing an invocation on a piece of paper, immersing it in water, and then drinking the water in the hope of gaining healing, protection, or luck...
Brands : Fara-Heit, Hugo.B, C-C Canel, GOISTE PLAT, SAUVAG, Evidanc, Scndl f, LASCOTE, Challeng.
« A feminine urbanism »
Paper, dress form, and silver door knocker, 200 x 200 x 60 cm, 2024.
The houses and alleyways are organically arranged around the main mosque (nombril, surrat) and are enclosed (hidden, sirr) by fortifications, like a protective womb (batn). During our wanderings, it was tempting to read the urbanism of the medina through the lens of Fatimid thought, thus weaving a connection with the bātin (the hidden, in the esoteric sense), specific to the Isma’ili Shi’a tradition. In this tradition, the letter « B » symbolically refers to the feminine principle, which invites speculation on the words beit (home) and bab (gate), both notions evoking the idea of interiority. From this emerged the expression “a feminine urbanism”, without necessarily defining its exact meaning.
« Le Mazout et le Jasmin »
Pomegranate ink, paper, diesel fuel, jasmine perfume, wood, and plates. 120 x 50 x 30 cm, 2024.
During our explorations of the Tunisian medinas, we were struck by the power of olfactory stimuli that structure the space. Just as on the auditory level, the medina—unlike the modern city—possesses its own olfactory heritage. Scents within its walls are varied and scattered, preserved and intensified by the enclosure of the fortifications and the narrowness of the alleyways. In Sfax, Sousse, and Tunis alike, the aromas of coffee, spice mills, fishmongers, butcher shops, blacksmith and woodworking ateliers, or the glue and faux leather of cobblers characterize the streets. Crossing to the other side of the gate leads into the modern city: the smell of diesel, piled-up garbage, and dust stirred by frenzied traffic. Jasmine, more than just a marketing argument, symbolizes the diversity of scents shaped by the urban configuration of the old city.
« Un passage se crée »
Performance device activatable by the public.
Fresh ombrine, printed adhesive vinyl, and composite wood panel. 120 x 30 x 20 cm, 2024.
A remarkable detail during wedding ceremonies in Sfax is the placement of a fresh fish on a dish, set on a platform. Hand in hand, the lovers step over it seven times. We were also told of a local tradition where a fish is buried at the entrance of villages. Others claim that when a new home is built, a fish is buried beneath the threshold of the future dwelling. In all these cases, through these rites: a passage is created.
* In industrial signage, yellow and black striped bands marked on the floor indicate a passage. Here, it echoes the highly industrial character of the city of Sfax.