The 1983 serendipitous presence in New Mexico of two prominent French artists—author Michel Butor who was teaching at the University of New Mexico and photographer Bernard Plossu who was then living in Santa Fe—was the occasion for the Hoshour Gallery to prompt a collaboration between them. It would turn out to be the first of many future prolific encounters between the two French artists .

 They both loved Rome while finding themselves together in the Land of Enchantment. Their tale of the two cities turned into a suite of 5 photographs of Albuquerque presented vis-à-vis 5 photographs of Rome:

 

Corot en Albuquerque / Corot in Albuquerque

La Grâce descend sur Albuquerque / Grace descends on Albuquerque

Les Carrefours d’Albuquerque / The crossroads of Albuquerque

Les Solitaires d’Albuquerque / The lonely ones in Albuquerque

Face au Castel d’ Albuquerque / Central Avenue in Albuquerque

Les Ombres de Rome / The shadows of Rome

Les Chiens de Rome / The dogs of Rome

Les Jouets de Rome / The toys of Rome

Le Miroir de Rome / The Mirror of Rome

Les Portes de Rome / The Gates of Rome

 

A unique collaboration consisting of 10 framed 8 x 5 B&W photographs by Bernard Plossu mounted behind 19 x 23 mats on which Michel Butor has handwritten in India ink his ten original texts . The suite is in the permanent collection of the Albuquerque Museum.

 

In 1984 Editions UBACS published Michel Butor’s ten texts in AVANT-GOUT 1 under the  title BILAME OU DIODE.