Desire Line

2019

In 2019, Nicolas Muller created *Desire Line* as part of a public commission by the Cantonal Contemporary Art Fund (FCAC) and the Municipality of Thônex. Installed in Munier Park, this large-scale bronze bas-relief features shoe prints—traces of moving bodies etched into the space. Here, the artist focuses on margins and interstices, on what eludes planned paths. The work evokes those spontaneous paths that users carve out by cutting across the grass to shorten their journey, thereby defying imposed routes. It reveals the intuitive uses of public space, materializing a “line of desire” that has been crossed. Through a play on wandering, Nicolas Muller highlights the alteration and wear of the landscape: the grass disappears, giving way to a persistent trace that seems to widen over time, like a vestige in the making. The work invites us to reflect on the impact we have on our environment, which our daily actions transform in a lasting way.

Written by: Camille Thibaut