Biography of Ma Desheng, artist and poet
Ma Desheng (马德升) was born in Beijing in 1952. From a young age, he taught himself engraving and drawing, began frequenting artistic circles where the revival of Chinese avant-gardes was brewing, and in 1979 participated in the creation of the group The Stars, asserting that the reinvention of an artistic language cannot be built on the negation of memory but, on the contrary, on its acknowledgment, analysis, and possible recycling.
Having become a polymorphic artist and poet—one of the leading figures of sound poetry, action poetry, and performative reading—Ma Desheng settled in Switzerland, then in France, in 1985. He explores the relationship between body and matter, notably through his famous series of rocks. He is internationally recognized and exhibited in major institutions such as the Centre Pompidou.
Despite his disability (he moves only in a wheelchair), he has traveled the world relentlessly, from exhibitions to poetry festivals, to exhibit, paint, perform, read, and recite—with an extraordinary vitality and life energy.
The wind opens the depths of the heart. Time is the brush, the wind is the chisel.
A poem-chair
“I adopted the chair, this familiar object, a few decades ago, at a time when I wanted to create art on a human scale in public spaces, while everywhere else people opted for the monumental: it is an object shaped like the body and serves the body. It is difficult to feel exclusive ownership of an object so universally shareable. It is mine when I occupy it, but if I leave it, someone else can claim it as their chair.” Michel Goulet, artist-sculptor
The project Prendre position
Prendre position is a sculpture-installation project of 47 chair-poems to mark the 100th anniversary of the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris. They were installed in a flowered meadow created especially for the occasion by the campus estate service.
This artistic installation was conceived by the Quebecois artist-sculptor Michel Goulet, in collaboration with François Massut, founding director of the collective Poésie is not dead.
Each house on the campus is represented by a chair, thanks to a donation from the Maison des étudiants canadiens and the support of the Labrenne group. Each of the 47 chairs is a unique work.
History and architecture of the house
The construction of the Maison de Chine is part of the Cité Internationale Cité 2025 development project. Designed by Atelier FCJZ and Coldefy & Associés Architectes Urbanistes, the building draws inspiration from the traditional collective houses of Fujian province and the density of the Haussmannian block.
