Collectif Etc.

The group believes that involving the public in the design process as an equal contributor is essential to creating good public space. They have experimented with built works, but also with urban furniture, lighting devices, as well as organizing conferences and workshops.

Collectif Etc is perhaps best known for its Detour de France – a roving series of twenty projects conducted across France. They took a caravan on the road, stopping in multiple cities to execute projects. They would stay one to two weeks, and typically spend less than €2,000 at a stop. Collectif Etc collected most project funds as donations from the group’s relatives. Each stop was in itself a statement unto itself. The group reached out to other design collectives throughout Europe (including EXYZT and Atelier d’Architecture Autogeree) and stopped to collaborate with them. Detour de France was essentially a meta-project, where the group positioned themselves as interlocutors and germinators of a conversation about public space throughout France.