«Imaginer Nègrepelisse!»

Is it possible to imagine a town without posters, mass-produced shop signs, directional signs or unwanted messages? This project aims to reimagine writing in public spaces in order to build new forms of relating to one another that are rooted in civic-mindedness, responsibility, awareness and otherness. Citizens’ messages are cultivated as visual and verbal communications worthy of the same care taken when tending to a garden.

By better tending to the town’s writing, the project attempts to demonstrate creating a local utopia is feasible and relevant. An urban space from which writing emerges, expressed both verbally and in calligraphy. An area in which the gardeners of the written word, residents of Nègrepelisse, come together to share their knowledge and experiment with daily life.

An exhibition based on the project was held from June 2012 to September 2012, which looked back on the four phases of the workshops organised with Nègrepelisse residents and helped visitors imagine the town as it could be.