Reminisens Experience

From 8 to 12 September, at the Paris Nord Villepinte exhibition centre, Atelier ATHEM is appealing to the sensory memories of visitors to the Maison&Objet trade fair, offering them a journey through real and fantasy seasons. This experience, specially designed for the occasion, will be brought to life in a structure made up of several different spaces blending mythology and science-fiction, real life and imagination, the tangible and intangible, memories and potential futures.

Without us paying it much attention, our sensory memory identifies and stores perceptions for us. The information collected, whether related to smell, sight, sound, touch or taste, doesn’t just give us the ability to recognise an environment. It also gives meaning to future events, guided by our own experience and the emotions brought on by that well-known feeling of ‘déjà vu’. In this way, in constant connection with variations in the weather, our bodies have the capacity for both physical sensations and emotional impressions. Seasons shape the world around us and give it a rhythm; each cycle brings its own set of new discoveries and sensory memories. When this perceptual memory combines with the realm of our imagination, fed by myths, beliefs and contemporary science-fiction, a new landscape is revealed. A ‘weather effect’ comes into being. Far away from our usual sensations, we discover the possibilities that open up when we let go, and we lose our bearings to end up going on a journey within ourselves.

Reminisens Experience is an evolving installation built to a square design. Inspired by ancient times and imposing architecture, the mise en scène designed by Atelier ATHEM is suspended within the space of the Maison&Objet trade fair. Like a temple, this peripteral structure, with corridors all around the edge, creates an ephemeral effect, like the ghost of a building. Its sheer size contrasts with the delicate textiles, since the whole of the structure is made up of fabrics of different densities and textures, tailor-made and recycled, including some from the LcD Textile Edition collections.