with GRRIZ

Carapace / Fluide Thuin / Belgium

We were invited by FLUIDE-PUBLIC ART FESTIVAL 2018 to conceive a permanent intervention in one of the suspended gardens of the city of Thuin in Belgium. The suspended gardens are a system of terraces created in the Middle Ages by the citizens of the city, who have satisfied the need for arable land around the fortified city, creating massive retaining walls and transporting sandy material from the river bed. Orientation is a presence of the river contribution for centuries to the creation of an ideal microclimate for the cultivation of vines and fruit trees. Our intervention is located in the suspended gardens owned by the Cultural Center of Thuin Alta Sambre, the venue of the FLUIDE festival which each year proposes the creation of public art works and performances in Thuin. The sculpture, designed to be inhabited by up to two people at a time, offers the artists invited to the festival the opportunity to stop, rest and meditate suspended on two terraces, with a breathtaking view of the valley. The intervention was carried out without the use of mechanical means, it was designed for the construction process. The sculpture has three levels of finish that accompany visitors from outside the gardens to the private interior space. The large beams visible from the outside are a strongly expressive skin and simulate an archaic and decisive language. the larch cladding instead is a squared, monolithic volume, a rough-hewn stone that protects the artists. The interior space, all in white, offers tranquility and serenity, for the study and creation of beneficial works the whole community. The wood will tend to gray because of the oxidation and its color will approach the surrounding stones to reach in a few months the perfect fusion with the surrounding anthropic landscape. For the realization of the work materials (beams and slate in coverage) were used, recovered from the demolition of the old casino of the city.