Spectral Matter

Poursuite Editions, 2026

During the renovation of the Grand Palais, Marguerite Bornhauser explored the building site as an artist in residence. Where the eye usually turns to the architecture, she looked down at the ground, at what no one thought to keep: shards of material, anonymous debris, remnants of the works. She collected, dated and catalogued them, the way one preserves the traces of an excavation.

In the darkroom, she placed these fragments directly onto photosensitive paper. Made without a camera, the photogram holds the imprint of the object itself: its shape, its thickness, the light it lets through or holds back. The debris turns into abstract, almost cosmic landscapes, where the infinitely small of the building site meets the infinitely large.

Spectral Matter gathers the monument’s invisible memory: what it shed as it was transformed, and what light brings back into the image.

With the support of the RMN - Grand Palais and the Fondation Louis Roederer.

48 pages | 24 × 30 cm | hardcover
November 2026
ISBN 978-2-490140-73-2

Available for pre-order at €35 (instead of €39), shipping from 12 November.

Pre-order the book on the Éditions Poursuite website → Spectral Matter