2011 » France » Architecture Section

Discovery

France already posesses a strong tradition of adapted spaces, including those discovered, inhabited and continually modified by Peter Brook and Ariane Mnouchkine over the last 40 years (Theatre des Bouffes du Nord and Theatre du Soleil). These are exemplary spaces from every standpoint, and we present them centrally in this exhibition at a particular point in time (last December 18th), still in evolution, still being renewed and reinvented. Peter Brook’s departure as director of the Bouffes on 31 December 2010 raises the question of the extent to which such spaces are driven by an individual artistic vision: how will this unique auditorium evolve now? Will it look backwards or forwards? These spaces – and others – have thrived without recourse to the services of an architect. Why have architects failed to engage with theatre creators? Why are they so obsessed with creating something in their own image when this is not what the delicate, responsive, fast-evolving field of performance requires? Should ‚culture‘ be rigourously categorised, confined and contemplated like animals in a zoo, even as many creators yearn for disorder, ambiguity and possibilities for cross-fertilisation? France offers healthy, contradictory approaches to these problems, as in the exexmplary practice of architect Patrick Bouchain, who has bent the rules of architecture and urbanism in order to obtain freedom and vitality in ‚found‘ spaces such as the Condition Publique in Roubaix, the Theatre du Radeau in le Mans, and the Lieu Unique in Nantes. Municipalities such as Saint Nazaire have also explored the value of indeterminacy and growth in launching incomplete, evolving projects such as Le Life in a former German submarine base. Our exhibition is presented as an object needing to be discovered and explored, inviting interaction, unfolding, collaboration between viewers. We hope that it will stimulate a reflection on the changes needed in architectural practice, government and society in order to allow the flourishing of cultural activites in a ‚discovered‘ context that is inherently civic (because regenerative and continuous) and ecological.