Arrows are are everywhere: on street signs or on your computermonitor. The arrows in ZZ are arranged to construct letters. The movement of the eye is visible when you read the letters that form the word ZIGZAG.
I did some research on words that are of French origin and are being used in Dutch and English. Not surprisingly, I found many words like ‘rendezvous', ‘souvenir' or ‘emballage'. But I was looking for a word that will fit nicely on the wall paper band. On the band you can either go up or down. ‘Zigzag' is a common word in Holland and in many English speaking countries (Germans have ‘zickzack' in their vocabulary). I particularly like words that sound like what they mean. You can hear the zigzag movement when you read the word. To me language is most interesting when visibility, sound and meaning come together.

ZZ
Papier Peints, 18 - 28.03.2008
Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Valence, France

A wallpaper project by Olivier Gourvil; with Anne Brégaut, Sonia Rijnhout, Bruno Rousselot, Baptiste Roux,
Nicolas Royer, Geoffrey Gross, Olivier Mosset, Loic Raguénès and students of the ERBA Valence.