EDS Collectif
Born in
Lives and works in Quimper
EDS collectif is an artist’s twosome which works on the passages between reality and fiction, based on the places in which they work. The data collected in the immediate surroundings of their works serve as the stuff of installations and performances in which they incarnate deliberately farcical characters.
Formed in 2004, EDS collectif at that time included three artists: Eric Le Vergé, Didier Thibault and Stéphane Tesson. The acronym EDS, based on the initials of the artists’s first names, would consequently become Espaces et Déplacements Sporadiques. One of their forms of modus operandi involves transforming the elements which they come across by making them swing towards other meanings.
The notion of “space” is a dimension to which they pay real attention, be it in the construction of the environment of their performances, or in the exhibitions which they take part in. The “déplacements” or shifts are to be understood in the physical and mental sense. They introduce movements in the manner of wandering and nomadism. Objects, deeds, environments and language are thus subject to shifts and appropriations.
“Sporadiques” signifies what appears here and there and from time to time, in a regular way.
These three terms, taken independently, have a precise definition, but their association proposes a different reading and a drift which in each instance multiplies their meaning.
In 2008, Stéphane Tesson left the group, so the threesome became a twosome. By keeping the term “collectif” after the acronym EDS, Eric Le Vergé and Didier Thibault confirmed this idea as the basis of their art praxis. They decided to pursue their projects not by juxtaposing them, but by conceiving them together. Reflections, proposals and decisions are all taken in common.
From the outset, performance has been the essence of their activity. Their projects have enabled them to physically experiment with the places to which they were invited, and develop specific spaces to accommodate these performances. The sounds, images, and materials which they use on these occasions increase the experience of the body. […]
Didier Lamandé, artistic director of the Galerie du Dourven, Trédrez-Locquémeau, March 2013