Psychoanalysis of the International Airport

Psychoanalysis of the International Airport is a collection of reflections, speculations and stories obtained from what the international airport itself tells. It draws its material from anecdotes, images, archives and quotations gleaned from the Internet and elsewhere. These fragments are arranged as a spatial and critical journey that explores the neuroses, fantasies, taboos and desires of this place.

With its promise of absolute control, it is the place par excellence of repression and taboo. Layered with prohibitions, it gives rise to a great deal of speculation, particularly around the threat of attacks. Any danger, whether fictitious or real, takes on considerable proportions. Ordinary objects such as bottles of water or body creams, illicit objects linked to drug and cash trafficking, behaviour considered abnormal, people – stateless, refugees or illegal immigrants – and diseases, viruses or bacteria are also banned.

The international airport is full of contradictions. It promises global traffic, but forms a hermetic space. It promises modernity, but faces the threat of terrorism. It promises consumption, but favours inaccessible products.

A primary version of Psychoanalysis of the International Airport edition was produced in 2016, on the occasion of the exhibition "Terminal P" at La Panacée, in Montpellier. The installation consisted of a large table on which were placed the pages of a book conceived with graphic designer Louise Drulhe. Each leaflet presented a pathology of the airport.

The project was an extension of the Terrorism Museum, an imaginary dispositif from 2009.

« The work is stunning, 'scotchy'. Many visitors spend long moments sitting on stools flipping through the work [...] The unadorned staging, the surgical precision of the vocabulary used, the minimalist and bland gestures of the actor during the visit to the Roissy terminal, his placidity in evoking potential and/or improbable threats reinforce the measured dramaturgy of the piece... » Sylvie Groueff. « Terminal P, lieu d'expérimentation de la paranoïa sécuritaire », blog Mediapart, 7 août 2016.