And again I sleep in a house dreaming of a home

A video installation and performance by Martin Bas @meussieue_martin
10 April 2025 – Halle, Zentralwäscherei, Zürich

What does it mean to move, to leave, to shift from one place to another? To trace the fractures and continuities of a family scattered across geographies? How do personal transitions echo larger forces of displacement?

This event unfolds in two acts, centered around a video installation that transforms a bed frame and duvet into a projection screen—an intimate yet fragile space of rest, shelter, and impermanence. The evening begins with a screening of short films by various artists, exploring displacement through ecological catastrophes, armed conflicts, and resource-driven upheavals. In the second part, the installation becomes a site of performance, entwining my own video work with live action unfolding within the bed-screen itself.

The project stems from a personal moment: my mother, father, brother, and I all changed our ways and places of living at the same time. My mother relocated from Paris to Mayotte, seeking closeness to her childhood home in La Réunion, while I oscillate between Switzerland and Paris, returning to a house my father now inhabits alone. These shifts in familial ties echo wider histories of migration, colonial displacement, and inherited geographies.

The bed, as both refuge and container of memory, functions as an open chamber—blurring the boundaries between private and public, interior and exterior. This inquiry extends to where artists live and how personal migrations intersect with global histories of movement. From my family’s past—tracing back to Algeria and La Réunion under French colonial rule—to present displacements in places like Mayotte, this work situates personal narratives within questions of forced movement, the fragility of home, and the weight of historical and political urgencies shaping where and how we live.

The event also serves as a platform for dialogue, engaging the audience in a discussion about the humanitarian crisis in Mayotte following Hurricane Chido. The event also serves as a platform for dialogue, engaging the audience in a discussion about the humanitarian crisis in Mayotte following Hurricane Chido. A collecte will be organised, you can give anything between 0 and 30 francs

∎ Screening Program: 5 PM – 6 PM
∎ Live Performance: every hour from 7 PM – 10 PM