anthropocene Archives - Nicolas Grospierre

Feb 12 2023

The House Which Grows, phase #1
The House Which Grows, phase #2
The House Which Grows, phase #3
The House Which Grows, phase #4
The House Which Grows, phase #5
The House Which Grows, phase #6
The House Which Grows. Installation view at Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków, 2012

The House Which Grows, phase #1
The House Which Grows, phase #2
The House Which Grows, phase #3
The House Which Grows, phase #4
The House Which Grows, phase #5
The House Which Grows, phase #6
The House Which Grows. Installation view at Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków, 2012

The House which grows

By admin All Works, anthropocene, architectural fantasies, photomontage

However, these houses very often also continue to expand. After a few years of use, the need for additional space occurs, and the owners decide then to enlarge their homes. This enlargement is implemented in the same fashion as the original construction: the house is nearly-finished, but the façade remains bare. And this process may happen several times.

The House Which Growsis a photographic series which is inspired by this phenomenon, but also exaggerates it. The first image shows a nearly finished house, which, in the subsequent images, appears to be growing, with the addition of new wings, walls, and even turrets to the original building. Eventually, in the last image, the house has become a huge chaotic and shapeless construction. The series is open-ended: although six images were originally created, there is always the possibility of placing additional walls to the façade, so that the house can be, literally, ever-growing.

Feb 12 2023

NEV #1
NEV #2
NEV #3
NEV #4
NEV #5
NEV #6
NEV #7
NEV #8
NEV #9
NEV #10

NEV #1
NEV #2
NEV #3
NEV #4
NEV #5
NEV #6
NEV #7
NEV #8
NEV #9
NEV #10

Not Economically Viable

By admin All Works, anthropocene, architecture

Poland is littered with unfinished houses. Each of these houses stands for a tragedy but also an aesthetic experience. They stand for tragedies, because one can imagine the different reasons that have led to the abandonment of the house: death, loss of a job, loan refusal, all stories making the current owners «economically not viable», according to banking terminology. But they are also aesthetic experiences, because this architecture, most of the time lacking originality and ugly, mutilated by its empty windows, is in a way sublimed by the very exterior signs telling about these personal tragedies.

Feb 12 2023

The chromatic composition of Heliografias
Heliografia (plum) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (scarlett) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (carrot) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (rust) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (khaki) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (olive) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (green) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (green) - side view - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016

The chromatic composition of Heliografias
Heliografia (plum) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (scarlett) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (carrot) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (rust) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (khaki) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (olive) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (green) - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016
Heliografia (green) - side view - Wooden board, Velvet, 100 x 90 cm, 2016

Heliografia

By admin All Works, anthropocene, conceptual photography, solar

Heliografia is photography without the use of a camera, lens, film or paper.
Heliografia uses the rays of the sun, to draw abstract shapes on material.
Heliografia is a visual game, using the idea of low-technology photography, and simply making use of the discolouring power of the rays of the sun.

Feb 12 2023

Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Photograph showing the original state of the plants when the Concrete Jungle was built. This photograph is placed in the light-box that can be opened.
Photograph showing the state of the plants in June 2008.

Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Installation view at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 2008.
Photograph showing the original state of the plants when the Concrete Jungle was built. This photograph is placed in the light-box that can be opened.
Photograph showing the state of the plants in June 2008.

Concrete Jungle

By admin All Works, anthropocene, photographic objects, conceptual photography

The Concrete Jungle installation is an attempt at bringing to life one of my favourite sights, that of plants growing behind windows, usually in staircases or halls of concrete blocks, and seen at night. They always were some kind of living and comforting sight in an overall mineral and aggressive environment.I always thought of it as a splendid subject to photograph. However, as I was thinking about a way of achieving such photographs,
it appeared that the sensuality of living plants was so great that I could not resist the urge of using one, and creating the adequate living conditions in a miniature and claustrophobic concrete block. In parallel, the plant is presented on a photograph, artificialcopyof a living organism. Therefore, the photograph will remind of how the plant looked liked when it was originally installed in its new home, when the real plant will be all but dry leaves.

Addendum

While doing research on greenhouses, I read that 19th century British socialists hated the Crystal Palace (the largest greenhouse ever built, destroyed in the 1930’s), because the attraction it created was so huge it distracted the working classes from making the revolution. Astonishing as this information was, it came as no surprise to me.