Leszek Brogowski sets out in search of the milestone markers.
Along the towpath that runs alongside the Vilaine River, there are kilometer markers, once essential for navigation. Over time, some have disappeared, others have leaned… Gradually completed, the collection of photos of markers revealed, "in relief," those that were missing. It is these missing markers that the author focused on, following the protocol printed on the back cover: "Look for the markers and, in the absence of markers, mark the boundary with another search."
The searches that mark the missing markers here focus on the history in which the two "heroes" of the book are situated, former professors of visual arts at the University of Rennes 2: Jacques Sato and
Denis Briand, and they attempt to extend their work. The search embedded in the hollow of marker 1, which is missing, is entitled: "Jacques Sato." Africa, the Platypus, Actaeon, and other figures of the crisis of modernism, with
Jean-Michel Alberola and his prints as a backdrop." The one embedded in the hollow of marker 3, also missing, is titled: "Denis Briand's Specific Intervention Plan. Time in the Decommissioning Schedules of Nuclear Power Plants." The book is also distributed in a blister pack together with this brochure by Denis Briand, published in 2011 by
Éditions Incertain Sens. The research embedded in the hollow of marker 9, also missing, is of a documentary nature: it reproduces, accompanied by a meticulous transcription, the menus of the weekly lunches that the two friends enjoyed every Thursday, in this case from 2006, after a horseback riding session. The towpath that leads from Rennes to Redon, passing below the author's house, is 90 km long. Of the first 10 kilometers starting from Rennes, three markers are currently missing. The next 10 kilometers will form the basis of Volume 2 of "En l'absence de bornes" (In the Absence of Markers), entitled "Topoi, and kilometers 21 to 30 will form Volume 3, entitled "Vasistas".
