La BF15, Lyon
The hosts, husz, haunt project promotes the consultation and sale of the new 30th anniversary edition of La BF15. It is a continuation of the work we carried out in Venice to explore ways of presenting books and archives.
The BF15 is located at 11 Quai de la Pêcherie, opposite the bouquinistes market, a row of 21 metal boxes with a modernist design. These stainless-steel boxes, shaped to match the stone parapet, stand out from traditional wooden crates in their futuristic, sculptural style. Designed in 1987 by Cyril Perrotte (20 at the time) and manufactured by the Fontbonne company, they symbolize Lyon’s cultural and popular heritage, and extend the city’s historic links with the book and printing trades.
At Perrine Lacroix’s suggestion, we are interested in this object as an exhibition, mediation and commercial tool.
The history of BF 15 since its creation (by a group of friends – architects, graphic artists, journalists, etc.) has been one of hybridization. “The exhibition space is an all-purpose object” wrote Claire Peillod. La boîte de bouquiniste refers as much to architecture as to sculpture (echoing the Guide de l’art dans les espaces publics published in 2008 by La BF15), to conceptualism as to relational aesthetics.
Horizontal, intimate and public – it places the public directly in front of the objects on display, without the interference of a barrier, a cash register or a salesman or saleswoman standing around. It allows for more fluid exchanges, a lively transmission through mediation.
It’s an emblematic object of public space, threatened by privatization on the one hand, and the digitization of books on the other. It is an object of survival and resistance, as are art centers, a fortiori those that are not subsidized. The economy of artists and art centers remains largely fragile, like the paper book market. In 2023, of the 21 racks available, only ten or so were rented.
In a fair context, the object is reminiscent of a peddler’s suitcase, designed to fit the shape of the quay’s parapet, like a prosthesis, but could just as easily – in the context of a fair – be installed on a pedestal adapted to the space. Adaptable, light and hybrid, it can be easily deployed and used as a storage, protection and transport system during the exhibition period.
The title hôtes, husz, haunt is a triple reference to the object’s idea of hospitality, its historical inscription and its spectral doubles left on the quayside.