Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre

Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre were born in Paris in the 1980’s and met through their mutual interest in contemporary ruins. They began their collaboration in 2002 by exploring Parisian remains before travelling to America and producing their seminal work, The Ruins of Detroit. Their work has been exhibited internationally, including at: Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome (2016); Deutsches Filminstitut, Frankfurt (2014); Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit (2013); Edwynn Houk Gallery, Zurich (2013); Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Monaco (2012); Kühlhaus, Berlin (2011), and Cinéma du Pantheon, Paris (2010), amongst others. Their photographs can be found in the following international collections, including: Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit; Deutsches Filminstitut, Frankfurt; Foundation Carmignac, Paris; European House of Photography, Paris; JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, New York, and New National Museum of Monaco, Monaco.

“We felt like archaeologists in temples. Even though the buildings are not religious, they express a belief in the future and in the system. They are cathedrals. They have a sort of naivety, a dream, an awareness of destiny that is a bit like religious belief.’
Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre