François Roche

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François Roche
Androgynous newt F Roche 98.jpg
s/he, the avatar that represents François Roche and his work
Born1961 (age 59–60)
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
Alma materÉcole nationale supérieure d'architecture de Versailles
OccupationArchitect
PracticeR&Sie(n) Architects
New Territories/M4
Websitewww.new-territories.com

François Roche (born 1961[1]) is a French architect. Roche is the co-founder and director of R&Sie(n) Architects and the research architectural firm, New Territories/M4.

Early life and education

François Roche was born in 1961 in Paris, France.[1] Roche sought to study science and math in college, but, was unable to enroll in a specific class he wanted to attend and changed his degree to architecture.[2] His interest in the sciences would go on to influence his architectural work.[3] He spent time in an Algerian desert during his time in college, deciding if he wanted to finish his degree in architecture.[2] In 1987, he graduated from the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Versailles.[1]

Career

Roche founded his first studio in Paris in 1989.[1] He expanded to incorporate Stephanie Llavaux as a partner, naming the studio R&Sie(n)[1][4] The "R" in the name is for Roche, the "S" is for Stephanie, and is pronounced similarly to the word "heresy" in French.[2] The studio specializes in architectural "investigations" and "scenarios" with the goal of connecting the relationship between humans and buildings.[1] Roche would go on to create New Territories/M4, which houses R&Sie, along with other installation, architectural, and digital design projects, with partner Camille Lacadée.[5][6]

Since the 1990s,[3] Roche has been represented by an androgynous, digitally created avatar named s/he.[7] Roche describes s/he as "a kind of doppelgänger, a Siamese twin, the mask of Mishima, an avatar of Vishnu. Androgynous in appearance and with a queer attitude, s/he has enabled me for twenty-five years to maintain a singular voice, coming from nowhere, emerging from territories that abandoned the posture of authority, of discourse, and of academia."[3]

In 2004, R&Sie(n) created DustyRelief for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Bangkok, Thailand.[3][4] The piece was designed to absorb the city smog, which would then cause the structure to grow. The piece was inspired by Man Ray's Dust Breeding. The project was canceled due to a coup d'état.[3]

While speaking in at an event in London in 2010, Roche shared that he would be "happy" if somebody went into one of his buildings or designs, got lost, and died.[2] That same year, Roche ended his professional relationship with Lavaux and began working with Camille Lacadée.[4] In 2011, the avatar used to represent the R&Sie(n) committed "suicide" only to re-emerge in 2017.[8] Around 2013, Roche opened a studio in the Talat Noi neighborhood of Bangkok.[8] Before relocating from Paris to Bangkok, Roche transformed his Paris house in a project called I'm Lost in Paris. The project involved cultivating bacteria which turned into vegetation covering the house.[8]

Roche and Lacadée launched a Kickstarter to raise funds to an "experimental hybrid building" called MMYST. The project was to be built by robots in Thailand.[9] In May 2015, Roche, Lacadée, and Pierre Huyghe to create "What Could Happen," an "experimental expedition" in the Swiss Alps.[6][10][11] In October 2015, he lectured with Lacadée at the University of Michigan's Taubman College.[12] That same month, Roche and Lacadée exhibited #mythomaniaS at the Chicago Architecture Biennial. The exhibit included videos of "architectural scenarios" around the world.[5] Roche's professional partnership with Lacadée ended in 2015.[4]

In 2016, Frac Centre-Val de Loire held a retrospective of Roche's work with New Territories/M4.[7]

Roche's work has been exhibited at Mori Art Museum,[13] Columbia University, the Pompidou Center, the Museum of Modern Art, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University[14] and other museums and galleries.[1] Roche has exhibited in the Venice Biennale multiple times,[12] including in 2004's Metamorph International Architecture Exposition;[15] the 2008 International Architecture Exposition in which R&Sie exhibited their "bi[r]o-bo[o]ts";[16] the 2014 "Time Space Existence: Made in Europe" biennale;[17] and 2018 at the Bembo Pavilion and the Lithuanian Pavilion.[18][19] Roche has also participated as a panelist at the 2012 United States pavilion.[20] His 2010 installation, Building Which Never Dies, was confiscated by Italian police for containing uranium. The incident caused an entire section of the Biennale to be closed for an entire day.[8]

Themes and concepts in Roche's work

Architecture doesn’t mean only to create buildings in the public space, but also to create debate in public space, through building and/or attitudes able to make a building.

— François Roche, 2017[3]

Roche's works often represent the divergence of science, architecture, philosophy, science fiction genetics, art, identity, and biopolitics.[3][4] However, through the avatar, Roche explores philosophical concepts of the LGBTQI community, communications, and philosophy. In describing his beliefs and work, Roche often cites fiction and non-fiction, ranging from Jacques Lacan to Noam Chomsky to Paul B. Preciado. Roche describes s/he and New Territories as “tool to knot and unknot realities" in the spirit of Michel Foucault.[3]

The Frac Centre-Val de Loire calls Roche's early work as veering "towards hybridization and “hyperlocalism”, aimed at distorting reality and bringing out its most significant unusualness." In 1996, Roche started using digital processes to create his work. Roche's later works also incorporate robotics complemented by writing and lectures.[4]

Reception

Roche has been called an "elusive" artist by The New York Times, a "provocateur" by the Bangkok Post, and "always provocative" by The Architect's Newspaper.[6][8][21] The New York Times describes Roche's work as "not buildings exactly, but scientific experiments."[6]

Notable exhibitions

Notable collections

  • 2002: Scrambled Flat 2.0, Waterflux, Evolène, Suisse, with R&Sie, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France[29]
  • 2003: "Mosquito Bottleneck Project, Trinidad", with R&Sie, SFMOMA, San Francisco, California[30]
  • 2003: "R&Sie(n), Water Flux (unbuilt) : Rendering of the structure", Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal[21]
  • 2005: "I’ve heard about (Modèles de sécrétion)", selected works, as New Territories, Mudam, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg[31]
  • 2007: "Heshotmedown, Demilitarized Zone, Korea", with R&Sie, SFMOMA, San Francisco, California[30]
  • 2018: mind [e] scape, as New Territories, Echigo-Tsumari Art Field, Niigata Prefecture, Japan[32]

Further reading

Works about François Roche
Works by François Roche

Personal life

Roche lives in Bangkok. Roche goes to great lengths to avoid having his photograph published, a concept he has compared to Daft Punk or Margiela.[2][6]

References

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Wackerow, Elaine (9 October 2008). "World-renowned architect Francois Roche to speak at Syracuse Architecture". SU News. Syracuse University. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Profile: François Roche and R&Sie(n)". ICON Magazine. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Budor, Dora (2017-07-21). "Architectural Psychoscapes: Francois Roche •". Mousse Magazine (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "New-Territories (S/he)". Frac Centre (in French). Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c Korody, Nicholas (19 October 2015). "Cutting across the Chicago Architecture Biennial: the Myth-Making of New-Territories / M4". Archinect. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Aleksander, Irina (13 May 2015). "Going Places: François Roche and Pierre Huyghe's Train to Nowhere". T Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c Korody, Nicholas (30 November 2016). "New-Territories projects forward in its "retrospective" at the FRAC Centre in Val de Loire, France". Archinect. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Sutthavong, Ariane (21 December 2017). "Provocateur-in-chief". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  9. ^ Korody, Nicholas (30 September 2015). "MMYST: a crowd-funded, human-animal hybrid building by François Roche and Camille Lacadee of New-Territories/M4". Archinect. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  10. ^ Gratza, Agnieszka (24 March 2015). "Agnieszka Gratza on New-Territories and Pierre Huyghe's "What Could Happen"". ARTFORUM. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  11. ^ Lesmoir-Gordon, Laura (19 January 2015). "Pierre Huyghe Goes Hiking the Alps (to Make Art)". Artnet News. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b "Lecture: Francois Roche and Camille Lacadee". Taubman College. University of Michigan. 12 October 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b "Future and the Arts Quick Walkthrough! #1". Mori Art Museum. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  14. ^ Wong, Tony (3 March 2017). "Commonplace innovation". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  15. ^ "9. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura METAMORPH". Archimagazine. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  16. ^ "venice architecture biennale 08: R&SIE(n) + DS". designboom. 2008-09-30. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  17. ^ Time, space, existence : made in Europe. Bonn. 2014. ISBN 978-94-90784-15-7. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  18. ^ Saunders, Zack. "New Solidarities: #digitaldisobedience at the Venice Biennale". Log 44. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  19. ^ Welch, Adrian (2018-04-28). "Venice Biennale Lithuanian Pavilion 2018". e-architect. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  20. ^ "Biennale Architettura 2012 - Writing Architecture: The Common Ground of the Printed Page". Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b Shaw, Matt (11 May 2016). "The Greg Lynn Show LIVE from the CCA". The Architect’s Newspaper. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  22. ^ Fairs, Marcus (2007-03-11). "Asphalt Spot by R&Sie". Dezeen. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  23. ^ André, Laetitia (29 March 2010). "Le 'snake' de François Roche". BFM Immo (in French). Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  24. ^ "francois roche I've heard about". New Territories. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  25. ^ Lee, Ka Ki (22 June 2018). "An Extensive Look Into Coding The World At Pompidou Center". World Architecture Community. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  26. ^ "'Lost in Paris' house, by R&Sie architects". Wallpaper*. 6 February 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  27. ^ Wiles, William (14 December 2009). "I'm Lost In Paris". ICON Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  28. ^ "Arts des nouveaux médias · L'architecture des humeurs". Arts des nouveaux médias (in French). Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  29. ^ "Musée national d'art moderne – Centre Pompidou" (in French). Centre Pompidou. 2021-04-13. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b "Roche, François". SFMOMA. SFMOMA. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  31. ^ "MUDAM: François Roche / R&Sie(n)". archive1018.mudam.lu. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  32. ^ ""mind [e] scape" at The Hojoki Shiki in 2018 - Artworks｜Echigo-Tsumari Art Field". Echigo-Tsumari Art Field. Retrieved 27 May 2021.

External links

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