Project: Le siège du Parti communiste français (PCF HQ)

Method: Family Tree for a Building

Work: The Cult of Personality, 2025

Materials: Steel, hardwood, acrylic paint, MP3 & MP4 players, Giclee prints, found postcards, found books, coin, lichen, soil

Dimensions: 450cm height x 275cm width x 25cm depth

Collaborators: Sophie Warren & Jonathan Mosley with Lita-Crociani-Woodland & Nigel Williams

Credits: Documentation of location courtesy of SICC

Taking a geneological approach to the building asks the question - what is a subject? Can a building be a subject? It has a history, a family, a community and a location which influence its identity. In this sense a building is as relational as a human subject. It is an entity of time and dynamically intertwined with other bodies that are both animate and inanimate, material and immaterial, human and non-human. In psychotherapy a biographical case study made up of family, significant others and significant events is used as a powerful tool to help individuals understand more about their origins and the influences that have shaped their lives. A family tree for a building with a personal history of people and events can tell us more about who the building is and where it has come from, and of what it is a product and expression. It is also a way of seeing what is manifesting on both conscious and unconscious levels. Creating a family tree for le siège du Parti communiste français maps a web of significant influences, relationships and events on the building. This tree skips a beat, forging liaisons between buildings, people, political and cultural movements and their phenomena. It involves many entities and spans across life forms. It's undeniably speculative about both the antecedents and descendants of the building, posing many ‘what ifs?’... What if Le Corbusier had a liaison with the Hills of Rio? What would become of that liaison? Fastening on to the tree is a time-line delineating events through the building’s pre-history and lifespan.