Stencils with a twist

What is the relationship between the inhabitants of the Grenoble area and the air they breathe? This is the question posed by the Strates collective, comprising an architect, an anthropologist, a geographer and a visual artist, in a research-creation project now on display at Grenoble Alpes University.

How can we make visible what we breathe? The project L’air de rien – Quand les pochoirs révèlent l’atmosphère (Nothing’s Air – When Stencils Reveal the Atmosphere) is based on stencils laid down over a given period of time in several locations in Grenoble and in the foothills of the surrounding mountains.

” In the Grenoble basin, where the atmosphere acts as a collector of anthropogenic waste, a fortnight is enough time to create an image,” explains visual artist Yves Monnier, a member of the collective alongside architect Laure Brayer, anthropologist Marc Higgin and geographer Olivier Labussière.

At the end of the impregnation period, the stencils are revealed in situ in the presence of invited residents: schoolchildren, students, employees, members of associations, neighbors… The words collected are all testimonies to the relationship that each person has with the air they breathe, ” atmospheric narratives “.

” Strates does not ignore the health issues at stake and the need to transform our lifestyles: it assumes that mediations other than measurements, thresholds and recommendations are needed to raise awareness and transform our relationship with the air “, explains the collective.

The Strates – Atmospheric Stencils exhibition opened on January 8 at the Joseph Fourier Library of Grenoble Alpes University, where it will remain on view until February 26, 2026. A booklet and a film, Les Météores, complete the exhibition. In early 2025, the project was exhibited at the Musée de Grenoble as part of the Experimenta Biennial.

The project has also given rise to a number of scientific articles, in particular :

• Opening sensibilities to the atmosphere. Une enquête à partir de pochoirs, by Olivier Labussiere, Laure Brayer, Marc Higgin, Yves Monnie, published in Terrain – Anthropologie et sciences humaines (n° 80) in 2024.
• Une surface ouverte aux récits atmosphériques, by Marc Higgin, Laure Brayer, Olivier Labussiere and Yves Monnier, published in Matières narratives. Concevoir la ville par le récit , Éditions MétisPresses, 2025