Mathilde Clerc-Verhoeven / Urban Membrane
Between textile and infrastructure: flow, care and adjustment… At the Sewer Museum.
Event information
Time: 2026-06-06 20:00 UTC – 2026-06-07 02:00 UTC
Place: Musée des Egouts, Esplanade Habib Bourguiba, 75007, Paris
Price: Free
Tags: Nuit Blanche
About this event
Installation, Sculpture, Exhibition
Urban membrane transforms part of the underground galleries of the Sewer Museum into an interactive environment structured by logics of flow, feedback and maintenance. The installation is made up of several kinetic works and obeys a fundamental principle inspired by the operation of several infrastructure cleaning tools: no external motor is used — all movements are generated either by hydraulic energy or by human action. The whole thing is accompanied by a soundscape made up of the voices of the sewer workers.
A 15 meter long woven gutter is suspended from the ceiling. Each fixing point can be rotated independently from the ground to raise or lower the gutter and move a ball inside. The gutter is woven from carbon fiber and plastic sheeting.
A 3m × 9m weave, made of carbon fiber, is exposed under the Alma arch. It is suspended from several ropes. One end of each rope is connected to a wheel attached to the wall. Visitors can activate the installation by turning the wheel.
A wheel made of wood and carbon fiber is suspended above the current.
A text by writer and director Jasper Coppes accompanies the installation and offers a narrative framework that highlights the different dimensions addressed by the work: the lived experience of sewer workers, feedback mechanisms, as well as the circulation of fluids and information.
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