The installation surrounds the theatre. It reminds us of a tent in the desert. It is made of printed fabric, semi-transparent veils, falling weightlessly, harmoniously, aesthetically around us. We are tempted, encouraged, to lift the veil. The tent echoes the Bedouin origins of many North African societies. The installation is a new and emerging reality created by

The installation is a new and emerging reality created by the juxtapositions of veils aesthetically evoking a painful past and a troubled present. North African and Western societies were built on slavery. Our cocoon was built through other people, hard work, often imposed.

Today's discourse on past slavery is largely consensual and condemnatory.

However, we are embarrassed when we are confronted with forms of modern slavery at the heart of our societies. The images evoke those who have built and continue to build our wealth: slaves, past and present. Looking objectively at our societies we could say that slavery was never abolished, but only transformed and refined.

The audience is invited to lift the veil.

The tent is also a reference to the refugee and transit camps springing up in Europe and elsewhere denoting the extreme fragility of hundreds of thousands of poor people in the world.

Their future is totally compromised by the interconnected system of the modern slave who crosses the roads through the Sahara, the Mediterranean but also the administrative jungle and repression in Europe. 

Every step of their journey is managed by a series of intermediaries that we can liken to a modern-day slave trade. The tent is not an aggressive space - it is soothing, a space for reflection and contemplation. It reminds us to be humble about the origins of our comfort zone. No society can disassociate itself from its history, and all societies have grey areas, especially when it comes to determining who is the origin of these riches.