La Portefeuille
Coat for two persons with 28 serigraphed pockets, containing flying papers gathered during a 3-day performance in Liège

with Theodora Jacobs

There are papers whose function is simply to be passing through, to be given, distributed, to pass from one hand to another and finally to be forgotten. La porte-feuille pays homage to those who glean them, collect them and gather them. La porte-feuille is a coat with multiple pockets which enables you to classify the collected papers in alphabetical order. Once put on, the carriers activate it by collecting and classifying in its pockets the papers found on their way. Witnesses to a place and a time, these papers rub shoulders and form an archive in the moving seams. After walking in the streets of Liège for three days at the end of May, the collection gathered by the carriers of La porte-feuille can be viewed in the window located 29 rue de L’université during the summer.

La porte-feuille is inspired by Ferdinand Vander Haeghen (1830-1913), librarian at the Ghent University Library known as the “Boekentoren” (tower of books). He has gathered under the name of “Vliegende bladen” a unique collection of loose sheets collected in the streets of Ghent at the beginning of the 20th century. A legend says that he had a jacket with multiple pockets. Each of these pockets corresponded to a letter of the alphabet and enabled him to classify his finds directly during his walks.

This work was part of Art Au Centre #12