Exploring la Villette – Methodology Note+video

In this exercise, we use photography, editing and sounds as an analytical tool to showcase the particular structure of La Villette. We know that the Villette’s architect, Bernard Tschumi, wanted to create a non-functional park, “an architecture that means nothing”, a playground of sequences. In this playground are superimposed three systems: points, lines and surfaces. My goal was to highlight this particular combination in two steps: a first focus on photography and a second focus on sounds. I had to revisit the Villette a few times as I had started out with too many pictures and a disorienting system. I had focused too much on seriality and the grid. After feedback sessions and a better understanding of what needed to be showcased, I finally reached a fitting method that clearly showed the superimposition of the three dimensions. The points, based on the grid system of the Folies, are shown by their vibrant red color that I saturated in editing. The lines are shown with fading graphics overlaid over the pictures. Finally, the surfaces are heard through the sound of my interaction with them. I needed to go back to the Villette to record better sounds of me interacting with the surfaces but I wasn’t able to because of lockdown measures and the global pandemic. In result of that I worked with the sounds I already had done and chose the ones where a human interaction with the surfaces could be heard. I matched the surface sounds to the picture  (example: when grass is very evident in the picture, the sound that you hear overlaid is my interaction with grass). The sound in this video is on the prototype stage and the goal would be to be able to go back once quarantine isn’t enforced anymore and be able to record exactly what I wanted. I find that through images are best captured colors and shapes, that’s why I relied on the photography itself to showcase the first two systems. Although surfaces can also be seen, I believe sounds transmit so much better the textures as we can associate them to the touch and its physical properties. In conclusion, sound and image work together in this film, synchronized, and using each medium’s qualities, I elevate the three systems and display their combination and the superimposition.

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