Now more than ever, L’Étoffe de l’Europe® (The Fabric of Europe) embodies the material woven together by European nations, using the 27 flags of EU members. The data weaving is that of the European construction from 1957 to 2022 and beyond. It symbolizes the sense of belonging of the EU’s 450 million citizens while expressing their cultures' diversity. It embodies a Europe formed by the interweaving of ties, relations between nations, flows of people and goods, and information exchange networks.
National
Belgium
{Empty}
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-01-01
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): Ateliers Adeline Rispal and Si | Studio-irresistible Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Marc Last name of representative: Hivernat Gender: Male Nationality: France Function: General Manager Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: 29 rue Miguel Hidalgo Town: Paris Postal code: 75019 Country: France Direct Tel:+33 1 43 56 91 45 E-mail:developpement@adelinerispal.com Website:https://adelinerispal.com/
Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): @ateliersadelinerispal
Between January and June 2022, France held the presidency of the Council of the European Union. As called for by Emmanuel Macron, this French Presidency has to be built around the key words: “recovery, strength and a sense of belonging”. It responded to the need to bring forth a richly diverse shared identity and to make the most of its full potential, in particular in relation to the environmental and digital transitions. It is based on these shared challenges that the design concept was created for the Justus Lipsius and Europa buildings which are the seat of the Council of the European Union in Brussels. Like the majority of the projects that were unveiled throughout this presidency across the EU, highlighting the immense creative capacity of its 27 Member States, L’Étoffe de l’Europe™ sought to showcase French creativity and expertise in several areas, both artistic and technical.
Recovery
Strength
Belonging
Identity
Diversity
From a sustainable point of view, the carbon footprint of exhibitions and temporary art installations is a disaster !
But this is why this project is particularly exemplary in terms of its environmental approach, in keeping with the French Presidency’s political ambition. The project’s eco-design approach led to the pursuit of responsible solutions on all levels:
• Seeking out the most simple and economical techniques
• Seeking out the most sober and least expensive techniques.
• Carrying out work with limited disturbances (dust, noise, odors, cleanliness of the work site and its surroundings, etc.)
• Seeking out solutions with low consumption of raw materials, using 100% recyclable materials and/or incorporating their own recycling; for example, using the sheets of fabric in the Atrium to later create a new material
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions: an effort to work towards carbon neutrality in all activities related to the work site (transport, storage, energy efficiency, etc.), for example:
• The structures supporting the sheets of fabric were rented in Belgium to avoid purchasing them and were stored during the six times the installation was taken down and reassembled to minimize transport.
• Non-woven textiles printed in Belgium by an ecologically responsible company.
• The furniture and screens were transported together.
• Use of light-weight materials (the 650 m2 of fabric only weigh 60 kg) and products that can be taken apart to reduce transport needs.
• Recyclable packaging and transport materials.
• Reduced waste from the work site.
• A low-impact work site was be ensured through the prefabrication of components and lack of paint on-site.
• Motion detectors and timers limited energy consumption for digital and lighting elements, and low-voltage lighting also led to additional energy savings
The basic concept embodied by the data weaving of the European construction generates a thematic pattern that comes in several forms, scales and representations to fit various spaces of the two buildings in order to be in harmony with the architectural language of the spaces dedicated to the French presidency. It captures the force of each on and use its best qualities and overcame its constraints to temporarily transform the spaces into settings that make an impact on their users as well as the media.
L’Étoffe de l’Europe™ expresses the general concept behind the project; it is the guiding theme that is explored in various forms and on different scales through the spaces in question.
This fabric reflects the strength and creativity of the 27 countries that make up the European Union. It highlights the same sense of belonging of its citizens as well as the close ties between the nations in the European recovery.
This fabric is the material that 27 countries weave together: it reflects the power and creativity of this collective that is the European Union for several reasons.
It marks the same belonging of 450 million different citizens while expressing their diversity of styles and cultures: together we participate in the weaving of a common work.
It strengthens the bonds of European recovery between nations and highlights the same sense of belonging of its citizens as well as the close ties between the nations in the European recovery.
From the start of the project, we understood that the buildings of the Council of the European Union in Brussels are under close surveillance and that their controlled accessibility is essentially reserved for the 10,000 European civil servants who work there as well as for the diplomatic delegations of the 27 nations. However, we wanted this project in which all European citizens recognize themselves to be seen by the general public. For this reason, we have thought of it and made it "instagrammable" from its design phase. This did not escape the communication services of the general secretariat for the French presidency since they asked us, very quickly after winning the competition, to imagine a digital variation of the pattern in order that the French embassies could communicate in each of the 26 other European countries.
regarding the physical installation in the buildings, it was quite amazing how intuitively this motif was understood and emotionally felt by the officials working there. As we had lined the walls of the 12 elevators with different scale variations of the pattern, their big game was to use them all as children would!
For the project management, we worked with various French administrations concerned by the project, particularly with the services of the PRIME MINISTER, MINISTRY OF CULTURE and MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS since the project was created for the French presidency of the CEU. One of the conditions was that the project management of the design be 100% French.
For this reason, the project was designed under the artistic direction of ATELIERS ADELINE RISPAL, leading French agency specialized in architecture and exhibition design in association with 3 partners: STUDIO IRRESISTIBLE (graphic design), INNOVISION (multimedia engineering) and LES ECLAIREURS (lighting design).
To offer a European showcase to the French artistic scene, we also associated the following personalities for the development of certain spaces:
• Jacques PERCONTE, French digital artist based in Rotterdam, created AOUR EUROPE, a giant digital work (25 m2) dedicated to the digital weaving of European natural landscapes
• Jeanne GOUTELLE, textile designer, created a work called INTERSECTION(S), consisting of a series of 5 original screens woven with scraps from the French textile industry
• Léa BELOOUSSOVITCH, Jérôme BONVALOT, Vincent CHENUT, Loup LEJEUNE, Lise PEROI and Lucien ROUX; 6 young visual artists from the French art scene living in Brussels gathered in an exhibition curated by Lola MEOTTI
For the furnishing of the lounges, we set up a partnership with the MOBILIER NATIONAL, historical repository for the furniture collections of the French Republic and a research and creation workshop for contemporary French designers. This is how several French designers and publishers were present in the project such as Philippe NIGRO for the Hemicycle armchairs, Olivier GAGNERE for the Star coffee tables, and MAXIMUM for GRAVENE chairs in 100% recycled plastic.
Finally, we worked with the INSTITUT FRANÇAIS, in charge of France's external cultural action for the communication of the project.
The project is the result of multidisciplinary research and design work involving multiple skills such as: architecture, scenography, design, political history, neurosciences, graphics, lighting, diplomacy, printing, specialized technical design office, multimedia engineering and equipment, furnishings, artistic creation, technical assembly and dismantling.
In the end, more than 65 people are involved in the project and have worked in an extremely collaborative way from the design phase in compliance with a global and demanding environmental approach to its implementation, installation and dismantling one year later.
As mentioned above, the project has been a real success considering the feeling of belonging it conveys, despite its limited physical accessibility.
L’Etoffe de l’Europe is the fabric of every european people since its digital visibility on social networks and in the press have largely compensated for this strong initial constraint. Let’s mention that upon request of the people a data vignette woven from the French flag and the Ukrainian flag has even been developed to circulate from February 2022 as a manifestation of Franco-Ukrainian solidarity.
This project embodies Europe through a real materiality: we see the mesh of links that reflect the relations between nations, we feel the flow of goods and people, we touch the networks of data and information exchanges within the EU and with the rest of the world.
Finally, textiles and weaving are precisely the two major challenges of digital and ecological transitions to which the French presidency of the EU Council intends to associate its governance.
When we know that the programming of Jacquard weaving, a French specialty, inspired the ancestor of the computer, it is only a short step from textile to digital. The proposed device makes the most of the digital, both technologically and environmentally, by weaving digital and poetic landscapes from European natural landscapes, the work of a renowned French artist, pioneer of digital art.
In addition, the choice of an essentially textile scenographic device has allowed us to set very strong requirements on the technical and environmental level... and specially to provide exemplary answers in terms of manufacturing, cost, low consumption of raw materials, recycling, short circuits, thus saving on transport, low energy consumption... while keeping a budget devoted to the promotion of the young French artistic scene.
The concept of L’Étoffe de l’EuropeTM was developed by crossing ribbons in the same way that warp and weft threads are crossed over and under each other on a loom. The colored ribbons were made from the 37 Pantone colours taken from the 27 flags of the EU Member States. Each flag generated a geometrically-colored ribbon. Each ribbon, freely and artistically interpreted at the start, underwent diplomatic validation with all the Member State embassies in France as the project advanced. Some States already had an official ribbon while others did not, making this an opportunity to create the ribbons where lacking.
The principle of the data-weaving is the following:
• The warp threads are the ribbons of countries that were part of Europe since 1957, which is why there are only six at that point and the weaving grows larger as time progresses up to the year 2022 and beyond. This also explains why Great Britain’s ribbon stops in 2019.
• The weft threads are also the same ribbons: they alternate every six months according to the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU.
• This concept is the project’s main theme. It is expressed through different variations to fit the spaces in which it is installed, on various scales and using various materials.
The concept of weaving and the metaphor of fabric evoke exactly the two major challenges, the digital and ecological transitions that the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union prioritized.
Originally, the requested specifications called for the project to be 100% recyclable in order to be 100% recycled after its dismantling… which we did! But in fact, its success has been such that:
• the monumental installation of the large Atrium (1200 m2 of fabrics) was 100% compacted to provide a raw material usable in furniture design for schools
• the backlit data fresco of European construction (16 m long) has been reinstalled in the European Parliament in Strasbourg
• the woven screens of the artist Jeanne Goutelle have entered the official collections of the French National Furniture
The project embodies the French Presidency’s priorities for culture: the passing on of knowledge and of the taste for practicing a craft to new generations, and strong support for innovation and digital creation and those who move it forward. Over the course of the French Presidency, over 150 events were held in France and elsewhere in Europe, offering as many as possible the chance to discover the diversity and effervescence of European culture. Key artistic events also provided an opportunity to expand our fellow citizens’ knowledge of what the European Union does in the field of culture and beyond.
The concept of weaving and the metaphor of fabric also evoke two major challenges, the digital and ecological transitions that the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union prioritized. Given the fact that the programming of patterns of Jacquard fabric, a French specialty, inspired the predecessor of the computer, textiles and digital technology are but a step away. The project features a prominent digital focus, as much on technology as on the environment. Poetic digital landscapes are woven from European natural landscapes in the work of Jacques Perconte, a pioneer of digital art. In addition, the choice of an interior and graphic design creation based on the concept of fabric allowed for stringent requirements to be set on both a technical and environmental level, while preserving a budget dedicated to promoting French emerging artists. Lastly, with regard to furniture design, the choice was made to offer a European showcase to leading French designers whose creations engage in dialogue, according to each space, with the digital creations for some, or with the screens that are the medium of the artistic textile work of Jeanne Goutelle for others.
