The Chamber of Echoes has invited Célia Potiron, author, researcher and cultural archivist, to conceive a space to celebrate the writer Maryse Condé (1934-2024).

Despite being a figure of contemporary literature with over twenty works, translated into several languages, Maryse Condé remains less well known for her talents as a cook. In 2002 she told of her dream in the preface to French Caribbean Cuisine: opening a restaurant with a menu that evolved according to her moods and desires, mingling fine- dining, literature and conversations. She then pointed out: “I like to repeat this without false modesty: after a good fifteen books, I still don’t know if I’m a good novelist, whereas I know, without any possible doubt, and I affirm, that I’m an excellent cook”.

À la table de Maryse Condé [At Maryse Condé’s Table] is an installation that pays homage to this unfulfilled dream and gives life to a restaurant table that never came to be. Sit down and let yourself be taken beyond words in this universe dedicated to a woman who nourished minds as much as she delighted tastebuds. On the menu, find morsels to be read and listened to, celebrating this writer, her tastes, her style and her imagination:

TO BE SHARED:
Toto Bissainthe – Chante Haïti
Célia Potiron, La Parole des Femmes

STARTERS:
Preface to French Caribbean Cuisine
Extracts from Maryse Condé, Of Morsels and Marvels
Françoise Pfaff, New Interviews with Maryse Condé

MAIN COURSES:
Guinea fowl with old rum and oranges
Aunt Emma’s New Orleans Jambalaya
Extracts from Maryse Condé, Victoire, My Mother’s Mother

DESSERTS:
Coco-vanilla blanc-manger
The Condé Library

BEVERAGES:
Planter’s Punch
Ti-Punch

Along the wall, you will find a map conceived by the graphic artist Estelle Ndjop Pom, highlighting the heroines in Maryse Condé’s work. These central figures redraw the contours of the Atlantic, which professor Lydie Moudileno has called “the special space of Condé’s imaginary” (Maryse Condé. Rébellion & Transgressions, 2010).

Currently based in Paris after growing up in Martinique, Célia Potiron explores her Caribbean heritage through orality, writing, research and archiving. Her creative work is rooted in a postcolonial framework and seeks to reclaim and reimagine the cultural narratives of her homeland. Célia Potiron has devoted the last decade to the development of audio-cultural projects and, more recently, to writing, particularly around literature and music from the diverse cultures of the Caribbean.

The Chamber of Echoes is a new space for programming and cultural mediation. It offers exhibitions and events of varying scales and durations in the free admission area of the Palais de Tokyo. It is designed as a flexible and responsive space, inspired by the logic of cultural rights, which aims to recognize the right of every individual or group to participate in cultural life and express their culture.

Free and open access from the Palais de Tokyo’s hall