François Roche

François Roche (born 1961[1]) is a French architect. Roche is the co-founder and director of R&Sie(n) Architects and the research architectural firm, New Territories/M4.

François Roche
s/he, the avatar that represents François Roche and his work
Born1961 (age 61–62)
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
Alma materÉcole nationale supérieure d'architecture de Versailles
OccupationArchitect
PracticeR&Sie(n) Architects
New Territories/M4
Websitewww.new-territories.com

Early life and education

François Roche was born in 1961 in Paris, France.[1] Roche sought to study science and math in college, but, was unable to enroll in a specific class he wanted to attend and changed his degree to architecture.[2] His interest in the sciences would go on to influence his architectural work.[3] He spent time in an Algerian desert during his time in college, deciding if he wanted to finish his degree in architecture.[2] In 1987, he graduated from the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Versailles.[1]

Career

Roche founded his first studio in Paris in 1989.[1] He expanded to incorporate Stephanie Lavaux as a partner, naming the studio R&Sie(n)[1][4] The "R" in the name is for Roche, the "S" is for Stephanie, and is pronounced similarly to the word "heresy" in French.[2] The studio specializes in architectural "investigations" and "scenarios" with the goal of connecting the relationship between humans and buildings.[1] Roche would go on to create New Territories/M4, which houses R&Sie, along with other installation, architectural, and digital design projects, with partner Camille Lacadée.[5][6]

Since the 1990s,[3] Roche has been represented by an androgynous, digitally created avatar named s/he.[7] Roche describes s/he as "a kind of doppelgänger, a Siamese twin, the mask of Mishima, an avatar of Vishnu. Androgynous in appearance and with a queer attitude, s/he has enabled me for twenty-five years to maintain a singular voice, coming from nowhere, emerging from territories that abandoned the posture of authority, of discourse, and of academia."[3]

In 2004, R&Sie(n) created DustyRelief for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Bangkok, Thailand.[3][4] The piece was designed to absorb the city smog, which would then cause the structure to grow. The piece was inspired by Man Ray's Dust Breeding. The project was canceled due to a coup d'état.[3]

While speaking in at an event in London in 2010, Roche shared that he would be "happy" if somebody went into one of his buildings or designs, got lost, and died.[2] That same year, Roche ended his professional relationship with Lavaux and began working with Camille Lacadée.[4] In 2011, the avatar used to represent the R&Sie(n) committed "suicide" only to re-emerge in 2017.[8] Around 2013, Roche opened a studio in the Talat Noi neighborhood of Bangkok.[8] Before relocating from Paris to Bangkok, Roche transformed his Paris house in a project called I'm Lost in Paris. The project involved cultivating bacteria which turned into vegetation covering the house.[8]

Roche and Lacadée launched a Kickstarter to raise funds to an "experimental hybrid building" called MMYST. The project was to be built by robots in Thailand.[9] In May 2015, Roche, Lacadée, and Pierre Huyghe to create "What Could Happen," an "experimental expedition" in the Swiss Alps.[6][10][11] In October 2015, he lectured with Lacadée at the University of Michigan's Taubman College.[12] That same month, Roche and Lacadée exhibited #mythomaniaS at the Chicago Architecture Biennial. The exhibit included videos of "architectural scenarios" around the world.[5] Roche's professional partnership with Lacadée ended in 2015.[4]

In 2016, Frac Centre-Val de Loire held a retrospective of Roche's work with New Territories/M4.[7]

Roche's work has been exhibited at Mori Art Museum,[13] Columbia University, the Pompidou Center, the Museum of Modern Art, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University[14] and other museums and galleries.[1] Roche has exhibited in the Venice Biennale multiple times,[12] including in 2004's Metamorph International Architecture Exposition;[15] the 2008 International Architecture Exposition in which R&Sie exhibited their "bi[r]o-bo[o]ts";[16] the 2014 "Time Space Existence: Made in Europe" biennale;[17] and 2018 at the Bembo Pavilion and the Lithuanian Pavilion.[18][19] Roche has also participated as a panelist at the 2012 United States pavilion.[20] His 2010 installation, Building Which Never Dies, was confiscated by Italian police for containing uranium. The incident caused an entire section of the Biennale to be closed for an entire day.[8]

Themes and concepts in Roche's work

Architecture doesn’t mean only to create buildings in the public space, but also to create debate in public space, through building and/or attitudes able to make a building.

— François Roche, 2017[3]

Roche's works often represent the divergence of science, architecture, philosophy, science fiction genetics, art, identity, and biopolitics.[3][4] However, through the avatar, Roche explores philosophical concepts of the LGBTQI community, communications, and philosophy. In describing his beliefs and work, Roche often cites fiction and non-fiction, ranging from Jacques Lacan to Noam Chomsky to Paul B. Preciado. Roche describes s/he and New Territories as “tool to knot and unknot realities" in the spirit of Michel Foucault.[3]

The Frac Centre-Val de Loire calls Roche's early work as veering "towards hybridization and “hyperlocalism”, aimed at distorting reality and bringing out its most significant unusualness." In 1996, Roche started using digital processes to create his work. Roche's later works also incorporate robotics complemented by writing and lectures.[4]

Reception

Roche has been called an "elusive" artist by The New York Times, a "provocateur" by the Bangkok Post, and "always provocative" by The Architect's Newspaper.[6][8][21] The New York Times describes Roche's work as "not buildings exactly, but scientific experiments."[6]

Monographs
  • 2018 / #digitaldisobediences_s/he would rather do Fiction Maker (Frac-Centre) [22]
  • 2015 / mythomaniaS.[23]
  • 2014 / Heretical-Machinism.[24]
  • 2011 / Architecture des Humeurs. Catalogue on research-exhibition. PDF 2mo[25]
  • 2010 / New-Territories-R&Sie(n).[26]
  • 2010 / BioReboot.[27]
  • 2007 / Fiction Scripts.[28]
  • 2006 / Spoiled Climate.[29]
  • 2005 / I,ve heard About.[30]
  • 2004 / Corrupted Biotopes.[31]
  • 2003 / T(e)en Years After.[32]
  • 2000 / Mutation @morphes.[33]
  • 1994 / The Shadow of Chameleon.[34]

All monographies/ texts / article are public and free downloadable [35]

Academia

Roche and S/he were involved in Guest Professor position among other places and chronologically at Bartlett-UCL-London 2000, at Upenn-Philadelphia 2006 and 2015-016, at GSAPP-Columbia-NYc 2006-2017, at USC-Los Angeles 2009-11, at RMIT-Melbourne 2012-2017, and few years at IKA (2017) and Angewante-Vienna (2009), AFAA-Bratislava (2018). He started in 2023 a new position at KHM-Koln.

Notable exhibitions
  • 1993: Action, Solo exhibition Institut Francais d'Architecture
  • 1999-2000: @namorphous changes, Columbia University (New York), UCLA (Los Angeles)
  • 1996: le monolythe fracture, Venice Architecture Biennale, French Pavillon
  • 2000: aqua alta 1.0/2.0, Venice Architecture Biennale, International and French Pavillon
  • 2001: In any way, it's already happened, ICA, London
  • 2003: Asphalt Spot, Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Niigata Prefecture, Japan[36]
  • 2004: metamorph, Venice Architecture Biennale, International Pavillon
  • 2004: Frac Collection, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
  • 2004: L’exposition Architectures non standard, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France[37]
  • 2005: "I’ve heard about (Modèles de sécrétion)", as New Territories, Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France[38]
  • 2006: Frac Centre-Val de Loire, Orléans, France[39]
  • 2006: terra incognita, Tate Modern, London, 2006, with Pierre Huyghe
  • 2008: Venice Architecture Biennale, International Italian Pavillon
  • 2009: radical nature, Barbican, London, [[40]
  • 2009: Lost in Paris, Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris, France[41][42]
  • 2010:Venice Architecture Biennale, International Pavillon (@isotropic uranium installation)
  • 2009: green building, Louisiana (Denmark, 2009), [43]
  • 2010: An Architecture in Moods, solo exhibition, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan[13]
  • 2010: L’architecture des humeurs, solo exhibition, Le Laboratoire, Paris, France[44]
  • 2015: #mythomaniaS, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Chicago, Illinois[5]
  • 2016: S/he would rather do Fiction maker, retrospective, Frac Centre-Val de Loire, Orléans, France[7]
  • 2016: Are we human, Istanbul Biennale
  • 2019: The Arts and the Future, Mori Tower, Tokyo, Japan, 'an Architecture of MOODs'
  • 2020: Escape Routes, FortuneShel(tell)er, Biennale Bangkok, [45]
  • 2021: Ecologies and Politics of the Living, Vienna Biennale, Vienna, Austria
  • 2022: Rivus, Biennale Sydney, [46]

Notable collections
  • 2002: Scrambled Flat 2.0, Waterflux, Evolène, Suisse, with R&Sie, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France[47]
  • 2003: "Mosquito Bottleneck Project, Trinidad", with R&Sie, SFMOMA, San Francisco, California[48]
  • 2003: "R&Sie(n), Water Flux (unbuilt) : Rendering of the structure", Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal[21]
  • 2005: "I’ve heard about (Modèles de sécrétion)", selected works, as New Territories, Mudam, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg[49]
  • 2007: "Heshotmedown, Demilitarized Zone, Korea", with R&Sie, SFMOMA, San Francisco, California[48]
  • 2018: mind [e] scape, as New Territories, Echigo-Tsumari Art Field, Niigata Prefecture, Japan[50]

Further reading
Works about François Roche
Works by François Roche

Personal life

Roche lives in Bangkok. Roche goes to great lengths to avoid having his photograph published, a concept he has compared to Daft Punk or Margiela.[2][6]

References
  1. Wackerow, Elaine (9 October 2008). "World-renowned architect Francois Roche to speak at Syracuse Architecture". SU News. Syracuse University. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  2. "Profile: François Roche and R&Sie(n)". ICON Magazine. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  3. Budor, Dora (2017-07-21). "Architectural Psychoscapes: Francois Roche •". Mousse Magazine (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  4. "New-Territories (S/he)". Frac Centre (in French). Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  5. Korody, Nicholas (19 October 2015). "Cutting across the Chicago Architecture Biennial: the Myth-Making of New-Territories / M4". Archinect. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  6. Aleksander, Irina (13 May 2015). "Going Places: François Roche and Pierre Huyghe's Train to Nowhere". T Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  7. Korody, Nicholas (30 November 2016). "New-Territories projects forward in its "retrospective" at the FRAC Centre in Val de Loire, France". Archinect. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  8. Sutthavong, Ariane (21 December 2017). "Provocateur-in-chief". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  9. Korody, Nicholas (30 September 2015). "MMYST: a crowd-funded, human-animal hybrid building by François Roche and Camille Lacadee of New-Territories/M4". Archinect. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  10. Gratza, Agnieszka (24 March 2015). "Agnieszka Gratza on New-Territories and Pierre Huyghe's "What Could Happen"". ARTFORUM. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  11. Lesmoir-Gordon, Laura (19 January 2015). "Pierre Huyghe Goes Hiking the Alps (to Make Art)". Artnet News. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  12. "Lecture: Francois Roche and Camille Lacadee". Taubman College. University of Michigan. 12 October 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  13. "Future and the Arts Quick Walkthrough! #1". Mori Art Museum. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  14. Wong, Tony (3 March 2017). "Commonplace innovation". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  15. "9. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura METAMORPH". Archimagazine. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  16. "venice architecture biennale 08: R&SIE(n) + DS". designboom. 2008-09-30. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  17. Jongh, Karlyn de (2014). Time, space, existence : made in Europe. Bonn. ISBN 978-94-90784-15-7. Retrieved 27 May 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  18. Saunders, Zack (January 2018). "New Solidarities: #digitaldisobedience at the Venice Biennale". Log 44. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  19. Welch, Adrian (2018-04-28). "Venice Biennale Lithuanian Pavilion 2018". e-architect. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  20. "Biennale Architettura 2012 - Writing Architecture: The Common Ground of the Printed Page". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  21. Shaw, Matt (11 May 2016). "The Greg Lynn Show LIVE from the CCA". The Architect’s Newspaper. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  22. Digitaldisobediences
  23. mythomaniaS
  24. "Heretical Machinism and Living Architecture". Archived from the original on 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2015-02-07.
  25. / Mouvement Publisher
  26. / C3 Korea Publisher
  27. / Princeton Press Bioreboot
  28. / Fiction Scripts
  29. / Spoiled Climate
  30. / Paris Musee Publisher
  31. / Corrupted Biotopes
  32. / T(e)en Years After
  33. / Mutation @morphes
  34. / The Shadow of Chameleon
  35. / >>>HERE<<<
  36. Fairs, Marcus (2007-03-11). "Asphalt Spot by R&Sie". Dezeen. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  37. André, Laetitia (29 March 2010). "Le 'snake' de François Roche". BFM Immo (in French). Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  38. "francois roche I've heard about". New Territories. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  39. Lee, Ka Ki (22 June 2018). "An Extensive Look Into Coding The World At Pompidou Center". World Architecture Community. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  40. "Radical Nature | Barbican". 19 June 2009.
  41. "'Lost in Paris' house, by R&Sie architects". Wallpaper*. 6 February 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  42. Wiles, William (14 December 2009). "I'm Lost In Paris". ICON Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  43. Green Building, Louisiana, Denmark
  44. "Arts des nouveaux médias · L'architecture des humeurs". Arts des nouveaux médias (in French). Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  45. FortuneShel(tell)er
  46. / PsychoTropism 2.0
  47. "Musée national d'art moderne – Centre Pompidou" (in French). Centre Pompidou. 2021-04-13. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  48. "Roche, François". SFMOMA. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  49. "MUDAM: François Roche / R&Sie(n)". archive1018.mudam.lu. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  50. ""mind [e] scape" at The Hojoki Shiki in 2018 - Artworks｜Echigo-Tsumari Art Field". Echigo-Tsumari Art Field. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
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