Musée de la Mémoire ‘PROPRIÉTÉ UNIVERSELLE’ ®

This artist’s book, a catalogue of a museum without walls, reads like an account of a work under construction in response to a commission in a former coalfield. Joëlle Tuerlinckx guides us through the studio’s archives, and through the development of a thought process that culminates in the inventory of the M.M. collection (‘Musée de la Mémoire’ or ‘Museum of Memory’). Building on the great classic of the inventory catalogue and encompassing ‘all of J.T.’s work’, she presents ‘a museum in itself’.

While the book is originally connected to ‘La Triangulaire de Cransac’, a monumental work of art in the small town of Aveyron, it also puts into perspective the evolution of the museum in its relationship with the artist and the book. Joëlle Tuerlinckx reminds us that if the museum is compared to a book because of its internal organisation, then a book can be compared to a museum because of its systematics and its method of contemplating the object.

“This outstanding project is a book about a museum that does not exist or did not exist. It contains an extraordinary amount of material, but nevertheless exudes a strong consistency and remains soothing. Lots of aspects come together, including photography, collage, typography, artefacts, notes and archival documents, and it is at once contemporary and timeless. It constitutes an alternative and clever way to walk through a museum in its own free and casual way. Moreover, it is very daring and innovative to make a book function as a kind of tactile museum.” 
— Jury from the Henry van de Velde Awards 2025