The River

Since March 2010, the access ramp to the main collections level of the musée du quai Branly has hosted "The River", an installation by the Scottish artist Charles Sandison. On the basis of computer programs, the work generates constantly changing flows of text: appearance, movement along the ground, combination with another word, mutation, deformation, change of trajectory, disappearance... The words come from the database of the collections of the musée du quai Branly: names of places, people, terms indicating objects, their materials and use. By the time the viewer has climbed and descended the ramp they will have unconsciously encountered the entire literal content of the collection as it flowed around them. On the subject, Charles Sandison wrote: "Rivers are the circulatory system of our planet, flowing from high ground to the oceans and seas. Water is vital as both sources for life and transportation of necessary elements. We can think of language in similar way, as both medium and message. Ideas flow as words through time and space, momentarily manifesting themselves as events and objects briefly imbued with specific meaning. Like water this meaning gradually evaporates and merges back into the river of human life and death."