Cheminée

The city is a physical and human place that defines needs, an environment and a culture. It is a complex place that shows the organization of a space that is constantly changing, because of the activity of humans in a given context: a physical, environmental, economic, social, political or even cultural context. This urban environment is an ecosystem in its own right that constantly interacts with its inhabitants.

This column – which, in the collective imagination, resembles a large chimney and which can make us think of the rural world as well as the industrial world – is designed to evolve over time. Initially made up of vacuum, it will gradually “fill” with this dark matter that is a petroleum derivative, bitumen.

This material is used both on roofs as a water repellent or as a binder in asphalt and seems perfect to illustrate the forgotten omnipresence. I want to make this material visible and develop its aesthetic form.

This material, which is frozen when it is cold and softens at room temperature, offers the opportunity to create an evolving sculpture.

The window that normally serves to attract customers and gives an attraction to what it displays, here carries black, dirty and smelly materials that nonetheless poetically arouse an interest in our energy consumption.

Energy consumption because, at its top, hides an incandescent bulb which, thanks to the programmer, comes on intermittently. By this action, this bulb, which carries energy, heats up the bitumen which is a representation of the unit of measurement that we use as a global reference in terms of gross energy – the ton of oil equivalent.