MIRA SANDERS

’Journal pour un usager de l’espace’ is the generic title Mira Sanders has so far given to her overall artistic practise. Such multifaceted title conveys the various aspects of the activity it seeks to cover. In that respect, the word ’journal’ refers as much to a log or personal diary, as to the newspapers and TV news that spread political, cultural or any kind of information, from general topics to more trivial events. The word ’usager’ points to the artist herself, but also to us as viewers, and therefore as potential users. As to ’l’espace’, space in the way Mira Sanders uses it constantly oscillates between the private and public spheres, and deals as much with geographical, physical space as with mental or even sentimental space. In a way, Mira Sanders could be seen as some sort of discreet, but efficient and critical, explorer investigating the world around her in an attempt to re-observe, re-look at, re-discover and re-hear not only the things, but also the beings as well as the structures that interconnect them and within which they actually or supposedly function. She does so from a personal point of view, but simultaneously tries, when making a work or doing a research, to also adopt the viewpoint of the object or subject she observes and analyses. To a certain extent, that justifies the considerable amount of time the artist spends setting up a project. Each time, indeed, preparatory work consists in reading, researching, note-taking, rough-sketching, meeting people and discussing, and still the ultimate result, i.e. what is shown at an exhibition or during an intervention, usually looks sober and simple. There exactly lies the possible ambivalence, but also the quiet force, of an approach often more complex than it seems, while remaining accessible and decipherable. Mira Sanders likes clear lines in drawings and sketches, as well as plain phrasing in writing. She also uses the spontaneity of video camera or sound recording, and is fond of straightforward communication by means of posters and journals – which does not prevent her from designing more intricate installations or from venturing on large-scale projects. But each time, Mira Sanders favours human contact and dialogue, whether when she produces a work or when she plans and/or diffuses it, as she is one of those artists to whom art practise is only meaningful if it remains continuously related to the surrounding world. (Marie-Pascale Gildemyn)