“The question of housing on the Breton coast being a delicate subject for a few years, we expected reactions. » Lilian Froger, the director of the art center Imagingin Lannion (Côtes-d’Armor), received a letter a few days ago from residents who were rather unhappy with the latest exhibition hosted at the gallery.
The object of their wrath: the installation of the Rennes photographer Maxime Voidy who has been photographing second homes with closed shutters for several years. Under the name “Sleeping House Agency”, the exhibition takes up the presentation codes of a fictitious real estate agency specializing in the sale and rental of uninhabited seaside accommodation.
Several photos of second homes on the Pink Granite Coast appear in the window as well as a telephone number to complete the illusion. The photographer has been traveling the region for five years to collect numerous images of these sleeping houses.
Threats of legal action
His work echoes the housing crisis affecting the Brittany coast. In the region, the share of second homes continues to increase. According to INSEE, their number has tripled in fifty years. In some municipalities, transformed into ghost towns in winter, they even represent 70% of the housing stock. Residents year-round, they can no longer find accommodation.
If Maxime Voidy affirms not wanting to denounce but only to open the debate, his exhibition made react owners who did not sign their mail. They point out the risk of harm and threaten the gallery managers with legal action. According to the law, when a property (house, garden, etc.) is represented, the authorization of its owner is in principle not required.
“I did not enter the properties and I do not give the location of the houses”, defends the artist. “To date, no one has come to the art center to ask for a photograph to be taken down,” says the gallery director.