Depossession (1994)

A mass of sand pours through an interposed filter to the ground, progressively forming the word DEPOSSESSION, its contours giving rise to a linguistic geology . The word reappears in the upper chamber by process of inversion. Reading it, we realize that the result of the loss is, paradoxically, the principle of its organization. Jean-Bernard Métais created the first edition of this work in Beirut, Lebanon, where he resided for several months between 1992 and 1995.
A project initiated by invitation from the French and Lebanese Ministries of Culture, the work is part of a series called Irreversibles and Word Beings.
Cyrille Putman