When I was a child, I used to play with some friends in a little square in the middle of a block close to my home. This ordinary playground was for us the centre of our own little universe, a place where many stories came to life, where our friendships grew stronger. We would share time together but we would also share a physical space, which allowed our imagination to run free. The square was little but we would project on to it our inner world to make it as large as possible. We were not the only visitors to this playground, others would come and some of them, older than us, would chase us away without any consideration. Conflicts would break out for immature reasons. Even for children, to share a territory is not always easy: playing - the most significant activity when you are a child - is definitely a serious business...

by Chung-Leng Tran

A territory, as a space we occupy, can always be referred to in various ways, it is a place where we can project and envisage many things. The plural approaches of the artists we introduce in EDIT: 3rd issue (Annelies de Mey, Bart Michiels, Julia Varga, Romain Bernini, Thomas Béhuret & Thomas Fontin) and the various essays about territories are here to prove it. Though we gave greater importance to the historical, political, urban, virtual and intimate aspects of the territories, it is not about a comprehensive survey of the theme but instead about a multiplicity of individual and complementary views. Some texts, like those by Florence Pillet and Nicolas Marailhac, which discuss the photographical construction of territories, follow each other on a chronological path but handle the same topic in two different ways (historical for the first, more critical for the second). Other essays soberly echo each other, like that of Kenny Cupers & Markus Miessen on margins in the urban space with Valeria Appel’s on graffiti culture. On the other side, Tiffany Kleinbeck's amusing style presents the principles of the Elgaland-Vargaland virtual kingdom while Fabienne Stahl writes about Olivier Goulet’s disturbing work: scanning a homeless person’s skin to divide it in numerous abstract territories sold on the artist’s website. On his part, Jean-Baptiste de Beauvais analyses another territory, that of the painter canvas and in his second essay revisits Gilles Deleuze's theories who can’t be ignored as soon as the concept of territory is raised. These are a few examples of the texts that are put together in a rather large and substantial edition.
I hope that you will appreciate this new issue of EDIT:, and as spring begins, I wish you a very enjoyable visit on our website.
 

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EDIT: 3 will be launched on Tuesday March the 30th at 7pm, in Mains d' Œuvres, 1 rue Charles Garnier, 93400 Saint Ouen.
Exhibition: March 31st to April 6th, everyday from 12 am to 7 pm.
Invited artists: Thomas Béhuret & Thomas Fontin (slideshow and sound installation), Romain Bernini (painting), Annelies de Mey (photography), Bart Michiels (photography), Julia Varga (video).