La Carte de Tendre (The Map of Love), 2011
La Carte de Tendre was a French map of an imaginary land called Tendre produced in the 17th Century, which depicts the "geography of love" according to the Precieuses of that era: the River of Inclination flows past the villages of "Billet Doux" (Love Letter), "Petits Soins" (Little Trinkets), and intrepid travelers brave the dangers of "Le Lac d' Indiference" (Lake of Indifference). The villages, roads, and topographic features in this allegorical representation trace the myriad facets of love and its associated perils.
Lynn Lu and Andrée Weschler revisited the map of love with its successes and pitfalls and propose a new reading of the Carte of Tendre with video installation and performances art.
Ref. Carte de Tendre, 17th Century print, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Drawn by Melle de Scudery
Engraved by François Chauveau
Domesticated in her Animality, 2000
“The video lasts 45 minutes. I look in the video camera as if it is a mirror. The video camera becomes a conduit from the private space to the public place.
I pluck my eyebrows, one hair after the other, one by one. At first the process is constructive, the eyes get bigger, the face prettier. But the process does not stop and suddenly removing hair one by one becomes destructive.
A simple act of everyday becomes definitive.”
Andrée Weschler, 2002
