Bâtir was born out of a disturbing discovery made by Salim Djaferi: the striking resemblance between the housing estate in Seine-Saint-Denis where he grew up, and the housing estates built in French Algeria in the 1950s. Following the success of his theatre performance Koulounisation, which explored the links between language and colonisation, Djaferi now turns his attention to the links between colonies and suburbs, and more broadly, between race and space.

Documents play a central role in Djaferi’s documentary theatre. Alone on stage, he recounts his investigation, mixing public archives relating to the construction of social housing with vivid personal accounts collected from those close to him and residents, whom he embodies on stage. His body in action brings to light archives that carry the weight of established narratives, but also of their silences. What do they conceal about the experiences they claim to document?

In a game shared with the audience, Djaferi questions how the issue of social housing has, from the outset, been viewed through the prism of race—without ever naming it. Bâtir seeks to deconstruct the colonial legacy that has erected the invisible walls of our identities, scrutinising the ways in which we inhabit the city and the stage—which has become a living construction-site of reinvention.