SPECTRAL MATTER
2021–2026

Photograms and chromatic variations from the Grand Palais renovation — traces and a sensory memory

Built in 1900, the Grand Palais stands as a symbol of triumphant modernity. A century later, in 2021, under the direction of architect François Chatillon, the building entered a phase of transformation. The restoration project, monumental in scale, brought together a wide range of craftspeople — mosaic artists, sculptors, metalworkers, carpenters, stained-glass restorers — all working to restore the monument to its original splendor. The great nave was dismantled and then reassembled like an immense puzzle, becoming a work of art in the midst of reinvention. Marguerite Bornhauser had the opportunity to witness this historic moment, at the heart of an exceptional undertaking.

Invited by the Grand Palais for a carte blanche residency, with the support of patron Louis Roederer, she chose a sensitive approach — a form of poetic documentary. Year after year, she wandered through the labyrinth of the construction site, collecting debris found on site, forgotten fragments, carefully labeling each piece with its date and place of origin before preserving them in her studio.

Using these remnants from the site, Marguerite Bornhauser worked with color photograms, an analog photographic technique without a camera, in which fragments are placed directly onto photosensitive paper in the darkroom. Chemistry, matter, and light give rise to abstract, intense, and vibrant forms, where color and material enter into dialogue. The objects become radical abstract forms. Traditionally associated with black-and-white photography, the photogram here becomes a dense and luminous chromatic language.

These fragments are small pieces of a larger history. They bear witness to a transformation still in the making — to working hands, fleeting moments, and processes underway. They carry the traces of change, the discreet marks that history preserves. An insulating material, a rusted plate, an ordinary remnant becomes a source of reverie, imbued with an intimate and fragile memory. This work restores a sensory memory of the construction site: the specter of the Grand Palais is revealed through these suspended fragments, these colored residues in which the glow of the minimal illuminates what usually goes unnoticed.

It is the poetry of overlooked details, a quiet echo of remnants that continue to shine.

Unique works, 2021–2024 — various formats
With the support of RMN–Grand Palais and Louis Roederer

This project will give rise to an artist’s book published by Éditions Poursuite in 2026