ENCODING THE LANDSCAPE: The "Lost Sites" of Le Mans

Project Overview

2007-03-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

The term "lost sites" was coined by ARCHITALX, a non-profit volunteer organization that provides educational programs in the field of architecture and design to Maine and the Greater Portland area in the USA. The term refers to places that contribute to the feeling of a city, but are somehow overshadowed or lost in the public eye. This project carries the idea of "lost sites" to the city of Le Mans, France where seven students at ESAM (Ecole Superieure Des Beaux Arts) created proposals and installations in response to the features and characteristics of lost sites in their city. The Le Mans project is linked to the topic of ENCODING THE LANDSCAPE, which is the overarching theme of my work with Art and Geographic Information Science. The Le Mans project was done as a collaboration with students and facuoty at ESBAM and ESGT (Ecole Superieure Des Geometres et Topographes) an engineering and surveying school also located in Le Mans.

Caroline Berge and Elise Conoir

2007-03-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

chose as the subject matter of their work MISSION TRAMWAY, which is a large construction site for the future tramway of Le Mans. The tram project requires massive disruption of the sidewalks, streets and the general infrastructure of the city. For two years temporary passages and walkways have ben created using red and white portable units that lock together like giant LEGO pieces. Caroline and Elise are interested in the dynamic character of the site, which is like a huge sculptural environment that changes on a daily basis. They collaborated to make a series of drawings and photographs of six locations within the construction site and made arrangements with the city to borrow some of the red and white units which will be used to create an "intervention" somewhere inside Ecole des Beaux Arts.

2007-03-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

Map produced by the city showing the layout of the future tramline; drawing and photographs by Caroline and Elise.

Daniel Burren

2007-03-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

The idea for the tramway project originated in a sculpture class that Elise and Caroline took with Professor Blacker. They were introduced to the in situ works of Daniel Burren, an internationally known French artist who invented a striped "tool" or motif that he introduces into various situations to alter or activate space.

Caroline and Elise in their studio.

Conceptual intervention at ESBAM

Catherine Caillere

2007-03-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

selected nine sites in the city center and collected sound data and geographic coordinates at each one. She completed an audio CD with nine tracks of unaltered sound each being approximately a minute long. Catherine wants to heighen awareness of ordinary sounds that otherwise may not be noticed. She plans to continue developing her work possible by creating an interactive sound environment where the coordinates are linked to the sound files.

Stefania Polo Villanueva

2007-03-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

is from Peru and was on exchange in Le Mans. She identified a lost site on Rue Nationale. To use her words, she chose this place because of the contrast of different realities existing in the same place. On the one hand there is the building itself with its historical facade, dark windows and abandoned upper floors. On the other hand there is the commercial storefront's lively environment and all of the street activity on the ground floor. Her work is about creating a link between these two realities and about re-affirming the existence of the older, quieter part of the building. For her project she used LED's (light emitting diodes) attached to steel supports spelling the word ICI, which means HERE. The metal strips were attached to the window frames behind the panes of glass on the interior of the building so as to be visible from the street.

Conceptual Intervention

Actual Intervention

2007-03-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

Samples of urban street writing, public actions and interventions in Lima, Peru that have influenced Stefania's work.

Julien Monnier

2007-03-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

Julien Monier's site is Parc de Tesse, which is tree-lined green space near the Municipal Theater. The park contains rows of benches placed at even intervals giving a feeling of symmetry and balance. Julien is interested in the "two faces" of the park.The first is the daylight face where people take part in activities such as walking, jogging and family outings. The second is the night-time face, where pople hold secret meetings and private conversations. Julien's work brings to light hidden places within the public environment. He has transcribed real, but anonymous conversations between men who meet in the park after hours. He uses diagrams and photographs to contrast the formal garden qualities of the park with the tell-tale littering in the trysting spots. He plans to do an installation that will incorporate an actual park bench with a newspaper containing the transcriptions.

2007-03-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

Pictured here with the GPS (Global Positioning System) data logger are Armelle Capo and Antoine Guillet, students at Ecole superieure de Geometres et Topographes in Le Mans. They assisted Julien in making a map of park benches.

2007-03-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

Park plan provided by Le Mans Metropole; the red dots indicating locations of benches were added by Julien.

Caroline Dietzi

2007-03-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

has been working with an empty lot on Rue Nationale for close to two years. She has done early morning rituals and installations there and recently has begun to photograph and draw items found on the lot. She is socially conscious and interested in housing issues as related to homelessness. She has been following the changes in this lot as it is developed. Her work does not make an overt political statement, but embedded within it are subtle indicators of social patterns and conditions.

Tyfene Vally

2007-03-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

is interested in the shape and form of scissors; in this picture she alludes to scissors as being like hands. She likes the play of positive and negative shapes within the tool itself and enjoys making images that contain this contrast.

Vik Muniz

2007-03-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

Tyfene's work brought to mind this image of scissors by artist, Vik Muniz.

2007-03-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

Tyfene discovered a scissors shape in an aerial view of Le Mans. The shape became her territory where she found a lost site containing very strong positive and negative shapes. It was a cut away space in between buildings. She took a photo, removed the color and inversed the lights and darks to accentuate the contrast. She then made a book form that incorporated the aerial view and included the site coordinates on the cover. When the book opens, it resembles a scissors form.