[ LOCAL | Château Éphémère ] A chronicle by F3 Studio
To describe the experience of a journey we could easily name and list the things and places that were part of the moment, but if we really want to express those thoughts that come to us as we walk slowly, observing at every step, trying not to miss anything, trying to feel the differences along the way we would not find the precise words. Not because it is necessary to invent more words but because the understanding of what we seek to express is simply freer than that.
[LOCAL] the reason that has brought us to know another part of the world is not about « territory » but to abstract the memories of our trajectory.
Château Éphémère has been the beginning of this project and during our stay it has become clearer to us that LOCAL is not to describe the idea of a politically defined place like Poissy, Paris or Nantes or even France or Vanderbilt Castle itself, but to describe the entity, what is LOCAL to the Château Éphémère, what is proper to it.
Its people, its habits, its images and sounds.
- Everything is ephemeral
All moments last only an instant, leaving only the abstract of our memories. We understand that and that is why for this project our mission has been to explore everything around us and capture small fragments of those moments to work with them.
[Photo 1]
As soon as we arrive everything is new, everything we live from the first day is a new experience that turns each breath into an input of fresh knowledge, ready to be assimilated.
We have walked a lot, as much as we had not walked for a long time. But it has been part of the process of understanding the place, the movement, the routine, the shapes, the foreign sounds of a language, everything that builds that invisible force that allows spaces and people to somehow work together.
[Photo 2]
We have found a heat that we did not expect, an intense sun but different from the one we know. Quiet paths, small urban developments that coexist with nature, giant urban developments that are icons of globalization. Intense and minimalist flavors. Then rain and cold that we did expect. A huge sky that can be seen from anywhere.
[Photo 3]
The language barrier makes us shy and makes those around us shy but it does not prevent us from connecting. We were wrong many times, but it was ok 🙂
The experience has been simplement magnifique !
[Photo 4]
- Finding beauty in the simplest things
Our concept of beauty is hidden in the most abstract details of everything we experience, that is what we try to express in our audiovisual constructions after processing the collected materials.
Photogrammetry, visual programming and modular synthesis are just our allies in this quest to reinterpret reality according to our perceptions.
[Photo 5 & 6]
During our journey we collect visual and sound memories to later process and transform them into what has been our understanding of the journey itself.
Shapes / Sounds / Silence / Textures / Routines / Everyday Extravagances / Speed / Calmness / Everyday life
[Photo 7 to 13]
- Controlled errors (or not)
We scan over 100 things, however not every exercise was successful. After the exploration process comes the processing of what we capture. Sometimes the light conditions or the context have not been the best to build the 3D objects. Sometimes the results seem rather strange constructions (which we love) and some others they are just not good enough.
As our stay is temporary we try to explore different places every day, therefore it is difficult for us to think about revisiting the places we have already visited. So if any of the scans do not work, we simply discard it, as sad as it’s to let some of them go.
[Photo 14]
It is part of the project and its intentions, to let be, There are no frustrations due to error, there is no search for the identical reproduction of reality, only the interpretation of our visit and the experimentation on new ways of abstraction in our doing. This is how we have also found new tools.
[Photo 15 & 16]
As we have mentioned, despite the language barrier, we always try to share the progress of our work and new ideas have been born. Thanks to the fact that we have had the opportunity to experiment with the Château Éphémères VR equipment, it is now without a doubt a must for the demonstration of our project. We will keep working on it.
[Photo 17]
In a general view, LOCAL has been the means with which we have connected in another time and space different from the usual one for us. Exposing ourselves to what is different, getting to know new things, learning and experiencing the Château Éphémère has been a pleasant process that we could hardly express with words alone but that extends freely in this work-in-progress artwork that we call LOCAL.
The work in progress, the final piece and all the documentation can be progressively found here : https://f3.studio/work/local
[Photo 18 to 22]
