Devenir invisible by Sibylle Fendt Maria Muhle and Marina Martinez Mateo

Text in German and French
Graphic design : Marie Pellaton
Soft bound, swiss stitched
14,4x22,5 cm, 88 pages - september 2023
ISBN 978-2-9572072-3-7

PLUS D’INFOS

This theoretical presentation about the photographic medium, as dense as it is concise, which mobilizes Roland Barthes and his denunciation of ideological manoeuvres with the myth of the" human condition, "as Walter Benjamin (...) proves to be absolutely fascinating (Ernest London)

At a time when asylum-seekers in Europe are caught between tightening refugee policies and the rise of far-right governments, this book combines photography and philosophy to examine how refugees are portrayed.

In 2015 and 2016, as a massive influx of migrants moved through the Balkans enroute to North-Western Europe, Germany opened its doors to close to one million asylum-seekers. German photographer Sibylle Fendt documented the Reception Centers and Emergency Camps that were set up across Germany to process, shelter and confine the asylum seekers. Her photos of the orderly installations are in stark contrast with the precarious situation faced by the migrants, for whom the installations were destined. When viewing her photos, we are naturally struck by the total absence of any human presence.

I decided to publish these images, because despite this great migration having received wide coverage in the media and in the arts, the manner in which the refugees were depicted, and their lack of autonomy in how they were portrayed, is rarely mentioned.
I asked philosophers Maria Muhle and Marina Martinez Mateo, both teachers at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, to reflect and comment on the issue of migrant representation. They suggest a strong link between photography and exile “beyond the illusion of a neutral image and beyond any authoritarian determination”.
Between the strategy of anonymity, regularly used by exiles seeking to erase their national identity, and Sybille Fendt’s photos devoid of human presence challenging our gaze, a critique of the stakes of representation emerges.

Nouveau Palais is the name of a diner on the corner of Bernard Street and Parc Avenue in Montreal. Facing that sign, one cold day of 2019, I thought I just found the name of my not yet started éditions. In my idea, the new palace won’t look like the old one (l’Élysée for instance in France). Plead for the destroy of the old palaces and to build something else different and for all that was the image behind catching that restaurant name.
Regarding the photobooks, Nouveau Palais tries to push ways of doing politically pictures and not political pictures to paraphrase Jean-Luc Godard. Each publication is a well thought balance between photographs, book form and texts and a close collaboration between the photographer, the author, the graphic designer, which is Marie Pellaton for most titles, and me, the publisher.
Books are not an end for the publishing house. An online review, distribution, podcasts, and a constant correspondences with the growing circle of the éditions are few of the many ways to spread the ideas and build a happy publishing process with modest means.

Yves Drillet


Web Credits
Design : Juliette Duhé et Sébastien Riollier
Code : Élie Quintard and Zoé Lecossois

Unwahrnehmbar-Werden heißt hier, die Papiere zu vernichten, seinen Namen zu verheimlichen, keine Information preiszugeben, keine Evidenz von der eigenen Existenz zu hinterlassen. Zugleich aber gibt es eben die Idee, dass in dieser Bewegung ein Verständnis von politischer Subjektivität und politischer Organisation liegen kann, das über diese strategische Dimension hinausgeht und die Unsichtbarkeit auch positiv zum Programm erklärt.
(Marina Martinez Mateo)