Appel d'air

   
     Fire provokes wind by drawing in air for combustion. “Appel d'air” means “intake of air”, such as moving air being absorbed into a fire.

     In the 8 hectares of the Jardin des Plantes (Botanical Garden) of Rouen, the largest garden in the city, and the one selected for my installation, I started to work by watching the plants, the animals and the people moving up and down the garden, in order to find an appropriate grounding for my art. After following the main path straight up to the central part of the garden, we find plants of many different species, an aviary of rare birds, a greenhouse sheltering tropical plants, and peacocks and ducks walking around fearlessly. Most people who come to the garden walk straight here, where the atmosphere is full of natural lives. Soon after my observations, I noticed that people circulate in the garden not only as a result of the fulfilled atmosphere, but also thanks to the care and attention paid to the garden by the people who deal with these varying lives every day. Thus, the ground upon which to intervene with my artistic vision was determined.

     That is the 210-meter-long part of the main path which leads from the entrance of the garden to just before the center, the most neutral space in the park, made simply for walking. I thus studied its geographical situation and nearby plants so that the new project “Appel d'air” was produced with the sensation of an intake of fresh air, drawing the attention of people to their environment.

     The ailanthus near the entrance, the oak tree farther along by the end of the path, and the ginkgo near the greenhouse were transformed into three “Trees of Photosynthesis”. On the 160-meter-long lawn between the ailanthus and the oak tree, four “Molecules of Oxygen” were drawn by growing grass, thanks to it being fertilized and watered every day, and a crystal sphere filled with air was put onto each grass circle: an atom of oxygen. Each “Molecule of Oxygen” is oriented to a nearby “Tree of Photosynthesis” showing the close relationship between trees and dioxide.
 
     The “Appel d'air” project is an environmental artwork issuing from the “Air in Peril” project, which would be my remedy for the double “air in peril” situation caused firstly by the air pollution of our society and secondly by the degeneration of the natural ecosystem which infringes upon our lives.