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My name is Jonathan Haner and I welcome you to the Armé Des Enfants project website. This is a social art experiment which involves you, a doll and a camera. Before I get started, I should add that you can also follow the progression of this project on our facebook page @ www.facebook.com/ArmeDesEnfants In 2003 I made a large, faceless doll from white construction tarp which I then stuffed with soft plastic. Like 'the elephant in the room', the 3 meter long doll sat collapsed in a dark corner of the exhibition space, representing an alter-personality born via emotional trauma. The doll's silent, expressionless presence becomes a way to make visible those things which we can't see in ourselves or others, yet still affects how we act or react in different situations. ‘Big Baby’ has appeared in galleries, parties and even the theater. In 2009, we lost the doll at a demonstration for affordable housing. Rumor has it that it is now being used as a bed by some squatter kids in Lund. Le Grande Bébé In September 2009, I entered an art competition in Grand Rapids, MI, USA (and then later in Kristianstad, Sweden). My entry was a gigantic version of the original doll, which I constructed together with my partner Teresa Holmberg. 'Le Grande Bébé' was titled in jest after Alexander Calder's sculpture, 'La Grande Vitesse', which has been the symbol for the city of Grand Rapids since 1969. In the same crates, I shipped around 50 identical, waist-height dolls, affectionately referred to as 'bebes' or 'Armé Des Enfants'. My intention was to use the 'bebes' in guerilla installations all over the city. During the two weeks of the competition, a bunch of my old friends and I went out on 'bebe capers'. We would drag them around and take photographs in all sorts of places (see gallery). The photo sessions became progressively better and more daring each time we went out. Eventually, friends from different areas began seeing these photos on sites like facebook and flickr and wanted to know if they could borrow some bebes to photograph as well. Interest started to grow and before I knew it, bebes were being driven and mailed all over the US and Europe. The Armé Des Enfants project has since morphed into its own social art experiment, inclusive in its nature. The dolls end up wherever people choose to take them, juxtaposing them against all sorts of backgrounds, people and situations. If this sounds like something that you could get into, check out the ’adopt a bebe’ section for info on how to participate. |
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