Client: Beauceville high school

Overview

Francois Mathieu “Quelque part dans la lune” 2016 Brass, stainless steel. Sphères diameter, 1 m.

Goals

In Beauceville Qc, an expansion has been built recently to provide a new gymnasium up on pillars and so connected directly to the second floor of St-Francois high school. The entire space beneath the gym remains outdoors as a covered driveway dedicated to school buses. This building is located on a hillside and the bedrock closes the space backwards. Wooden benches spread all along the vertical drop. The commission consists of a sculptural installation in this out of reach but fully visible area.

Process

Entering that space, we could easily feel sounds and vibrations of bouncing balls over the head across the steel structure of the palestra, so as a response, we could imagine some much bigger ones bouncing towards the ceiling from beneath. In addition, that whole environment looks like some lunar landscape, according to the unreachable up-sloping rocky terrain to explore.

I have been told so often I had my head in the clouds when I was a kid, I have not yet reached the moon. These brass spheres may look like Jules Verne’s spaceship or any steampunk invention. On an abstract point of view, this place has no walls nor floor to stand on, so placing an object somewhere and taking advantage of visible solutions is the main part of the deal.

Standing on stainless-steel built-in site tripods anchored in the bedrock, this abstract ensemble has not a conventional presence but it enhances the uncommon aspect of the site.

Additional Information

This installation has been crafted by Bernard Paquet.