Dorothy’s Interior Boulevard (2025) - DesignHeads @Off-ArtGenève (Genève, CH)

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FR: Le Boulevard Intérieur de Dorothy (2025) est la dernière extension du projet artistique -> La Maison de Dorothy (2023), une installation qui présentait la maison de l’ami.e.x imaginaire de la communauté LGBTQIA+. Cette nouvelle pièce invite le public à réfléchir sur le ressenti des personnes queer dans l’espace public. Elle rend hommage aux multiples stratégies de résistance et de réappropriation dans un environnement urbain hostile. Elle a été présentée pour la première fois à l’occasion de l’exposition des lauréat.e.x.s de la ->Bourse Déliée du Fonds Cantonal d’Art Contemporain (FCAC), au Cube à la HEAD Genève, en janvier 2025.

-> Texte critique de l’historien de l’art Damien Delille

EN: Dorothy's Interior Boulevard (2025) is the latest extension of the artistic project -> The House of Dorothy (2023), a life-sized installation that showcased the home of the LGBTQIA+ community's imaginary best friend. This new room invites the public to reflect on the experiences of queer individuals in public spaces. It honors the many strategies of resistance and reclamation within a hostile urban environment. It was first presented during the exhibition of the laureates of the Bourse Déliée of the Fonds Cantonal d’Art Contemporain (FCAC), at the Cube HEAD Genève, in January 2025.

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FR: Pensé comme un terrarium, le Boulevard Intérieur recrée un espace extérieur propice à l’expérimentation. Cette fausse voie publique offre aux invité.e.x.s de Dorothy un lieu où iels peuvent s’entraîner à marcher sous le poids du regard des autres, explorant ainsi la tension entre visibilité et vulnérabilité. L’architecture, les couleurs et les objets qui composent cet espace rendent hommage à divers lieux queers historiques et contemporains.

Parmi ces références, on trouve la glacerie emblématique Coppelia à Cuba, qui devint un lieu de rencontre codifié pour la communauté homosexuelle des années 1970. Commander une glace à la fraise à Coppelia Soderia servait de code pour indiquer son appartenance ou ses intentions.

Une autre référence majeure est le labyrinthe de buissons du Parc des Tuileries à Paris - réputé comme l’un des plus anciens et incontournables espaces de cruising. Récemment rasées à l’occasion des Jeux Olympiques 2024, les souches de ces buissons, pleurées par un tuyau d’arrosage en deuil, se métamorphosent ici en accessoires de fête.

Le Boulevard Intérieur devient ainsi un lieu de mémoire, d’expérimentation et de réappropriation. Entre gravité et célébration, il explore la dualité de la fierté et de la prudence tout en utilisant l’absurde pour questionner les normes et dénoncer l’injustice. L’installation devient un terrain de réflexion sur les manières dont les personnes queer transforment des environnements oppressifs en espaces de résistance et d’affirmation.

EN: Conceived as a terrarium, Dorothy's Interior Boulevard recreates an outdoor space conducive to experimentation. This artificial public thoroughfare offers Dorothy's guests a place to practice walking under the weight of others' gaze, exploring the tension between visibility and vulnerability. The architecture, colors, and objects that make up this space pay homage to various historical and contemporary queer locations.

Among these references is the iconic Coppelia ice cream parlor in Cuba, which became a coded meeting place for the gay community in the 1970s. Ordering a strawberry ice cream at Coppelia Sodería served as a discreet way to signal one’s identity or intentions.

Another major reference is the hedge maze in the Tuileries Garden in Paris—renowned as one of the oldest and most significant cruising spaces. Recently cleared for the 2024 Olympic Games, the stumps of these hedges, mourned by a grieving garden hose, are transformed here into party props.

Dorothy's Interior Boulevard thus becomes a site of memory, experimentation, and reclamation. Balancing gravity and celebration, it explores the duality of pride and caution while using absurdity to challenge norms and denounce injustice. The installation serves as a space for reflection on how queer individuals transform oppressive environments into arenas of resistance and self-affirmation.

Special thanks to:
Maude Renevier
Tanguy Troubat
Collectif Kimera
Alice Botelho
Joanna Haefeli
Karen Pisoni
HEAD Atelier Métal
HEAD Atelier Impression

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Photos  ©Souplex Atelier

Dorothy’s Closet (2024) - Double Agent: Do you speak Flowers ? @BIO28 (Ljubljana, Slovenia)

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Dorothy’s Closet was awarded the ->Kiefer Hablitzel Göhner Prize at the Swiss Art Awards at ArtBasel in 2024. It then teleported to Slovenia for the 28th edition of the ->Biennale of Design of Ljubljana (BIO28), curated by Alexandra Midal. The exhibition is open until April 6 2025!

On November 22nd 2024, Dorothy welcomed Macedonian artist ->Naash.x inside her Closet for a very special performance. 

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Special thanks to:
Naash.x
Alexandra Midal
Emma Pflieger
The whole team of BIO28
Anja Radovic
Matjaz Brulc
Gregor Gobec
Collectif Kimera

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Photos  ©BIO28 predstava and ©Souplex Atelier

Dorothy’s Picnic Set (2024) - Amour Propre @Fabian Lang Gallery (Zürich, Switzerland)

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Dorothy’s Picnic Set was first exhibited at the ->Fabian Lang Gallery in Zürich, as part of the “Amour Propre” groupshow in october 2024 (alongside Carina Emery, Mark Wallinger, Kilian Rüthemann, Elena Alonso, Isabelle Young, Christin Khaukha, Sarah Dwyer and Xiao Guo Hui). 

The installation includes three new pieces of work: Dorothy’s Picnic Cloth, Dorothy’s Picnic Chest and Dorothy’s Picnic Blinders. It explores the emotional tension of existing as an LGBTQIA+ person in public spaces: pride mixed with shame, a desire for ease contrasted with fear, and the urge to hide from the judging gaze of others.

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Special thanks to:
Fabian Lang
The whole team of Fabian Lang Gallery
Collectif Kimera

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Photos 1-6 : © Souplex Atelier
Photo 7 © Installation view of Amour-Propre, 2024, Galerie Fabian Lang, Zürich 

Dorothy’s Closet (2024) - Læ Fol, l’Aube et l’Étoile @Espace Dukat

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Dorothy’s Closet was awarded the ->Kiefer Hablitzel Göhner Prize at the Swiss Art Awards at ArtBasel in 2024, it then teleported back to ->Espace Dukat in Geneva for the ->Læ Fol, L’Aube et l’Étoile exhibition, curated by Collectif Kimera.

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The LGBTQIA+ community has developed multiple secret codes over time to communicate one’s sexual orientation or gender identity discreetly in times of segregation. To name a few, Queer people have been able to identify each other through flowers, colored bandanas, ice cream flavors, cut fingernails, peacock feathers, or - by introducing themselves as “friends of Dorothy.” In 1981, when it was still illegal to be gay in the USA, The Naval Investigative Service (NIS) of Chicago heard about the “Dorothy” phenomenon within the US military and led an important investigation to catch her, hoping she would give out the names of all her gay military friends. In response to the absurdity of this homophobic investigation, I am currently developing and building the home of the imaginary best friend of the community – The House of Dorothy (2023). This project is a way for me to pay homage to queer spaces around the world and acts as a physical manifesto to stress the importance of their existence when 67 countries still criminalize the LGBTQIA+ community today.

Dorothy’s Closet (2024) is a new room in this ever-growing project. Starting from the expression “coming out of the closet,” it questions what a simple piece of furniture represents for those who must hide in it: a place of shelter, a place where you can be your true self, a place where you shape your personality, yet simultaneously a symbol of societal marginalization, fostering feelings of “abnormality.” Playing with the multiple paradoxes that accompany the “closet” (private/public, invisible/visible, inside/outside, comforting/disconcerting), the architecture, objects, and colors contribute to the storytelling of the life of Dorothy and how she and, by extension, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, shape their own closet.

In my artistic practice, absurdity is a tool I use to highlight the irrational nature of homo-, trans-, and bi-phobia. Reclaiming symbols of hate, such as the words «queer» or «fruits,» whic were once used derogatorily against LGBTQIA+ people, has been a powerful response by the oppressed, transforming insults into symbols of pride and resistance. The celebration of uniqueness and peculiarity within the LGBTQIA+ community has empowered many to accept, value, and reconstruct their identities. Through numerous references to queer theory, history, spaces and activists, and by reinterpreting everyday objects, I aim to glorify these aspects of the community that have been marginalized for so long.

Special thanks to:
Tanguy Troubat
Collectif Kimera

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Video: © Courtesy BAK/OFC, Gina Folly, 2024
Photos 1-6 © France Bellmas
Photos 7-16 and map © Tanguy Troubat - Souplex Atelier

Dorothy’s Closet (2024) - Swiss Art Awards (BS, CH)

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Dorothy’s Closet was awarded the ->Kiefer Hablitzel Göhner Prize at the Swiss Art Awards at ArtBasel 2024.

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The LGBTQIA+ community has developed multiple secret codes over time to communicate one’s sexual orientation or gender identity discreetly in times of segregation. To name a few, Queer people have been able to identify each other through flowers, colored bandanas, ice cream flavors, cut fingernails, peacock feathers, or - by introducing themselves as “friends of Dorothy.” In 1981, when it was still illegal to be gay in the USA, The Naval Investigative Service (NIS) of Chicago heard about the “Dorothy” phenomenon within the US military and led an important investigation to catch her, hoping she would give out the names of all her gay military friends. In response to the absurdity of this homophobic investigation, I am currently developing and building the home of the imaginary best friend of the community – The House of Dorothy (2023). This project is a way for me to pay homage to queer spaces around the world and acts as a physical manifesto to stress the importance of their existence when 67 countries still criminalize the LGBTQIA+ community today.

Dorothy’s Closet (2024) is a new room in this ever-growing project. Starting from the expression “coming out of the closet,” it questions what a simple piece of furniture represents for those who must hide in it: a place of shelter, a place where you can be your true self, a place where you shape your personality, yet simultaneously a symbol of societal marginalization, fostering feelings of “abnormality.” Playing with the multiple paradoxes that accompany the “closet” (private/public, invisible/visible, inside/outside, comforting/disconcerting), the architecture, objects, and colors contribute to the storytelling of the life of Dorothy and how she and, by extension, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, shape their own closet.

In my artistic practice, absurdity is a tool I use to highlight the irrational nature of homo-, trans-, and bi-phobia. Reclaiming symbols of hate, such as the words «queer» or «fruits,» whic were once used derogatorily against LGBTQIA+ people, has been a powerful response by the oppressed, transforming insults into symbols of pride and resistance. The celebration of uniqueness and peculiarity within the LGBTQIA+ community has empowered many to accept, value, and reconstruct their identities. Through numerous references to queer theory, history, spaces and activists, and by reinterpreting everyday objects, I aim to glorify these aspects of the community that have been marginalized for so long.

Special thanks to:
Swiss Art Awards
Kiefer Hablitzel Göhner Foundation
Tanguy Troubat
Collectif Kimera

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Video: © Courtesy BAK/OFC, Gina Folly, 2024
Photos and map © Tanguy Troubat - Souplex Atelier