PLANTHÉON
A teenage exploration of urban plant, creative residency in middle schoolVideo, textile, installation
Maison des Metallos & Ville de Paris
2021
Version FR
Maison des Metallos & Ville de Paris
2021
Teenagers in contact with urban plants: between botanical discoveries and fantasized nature.
Textile installation
Cyanotype prints and video
Cyanotype prints and video
How can one see wildlife in a metropolis like Paris? What is the fragile freedom of this urban flora? Can teenagers identify with the plants around them? What plant self-portrait do these adolescents want to imagine?
Planthéon is a creation produced as part of an artists' residency in middle school, supported by the City of Paris, in partnership with the Maison des Métallos. Pupils in 8th grade, at Paul Valéry School (Paris 12th), discover the presence of wild plants in the courtyard of their establishment. During the picking sessions, the students become familiar with these varied species. Although these weeds inhabit their daily environment, they were unaware of their existence until now.
With this new attention paid to these so-called "free" wild plants, and compose a multimedia herbarium of these species that inhabit the schoolyard.
They learn to identify these species, to collect a taxon and to observe the specificities of each on camera. The videos are complemented by a textile creation that keeps the imprint of these plants. The pupils make prints on fabric in the courtyard using a photosensitive substance: the cyanotype technique, which fixes color under the action of sunlight.
The students chose to name this creation “Planthéon”.
With this new attention paid to these so-called "free" wild plants, and compose a multimedia herbarium of these species that inhabit the schoolyard.
They learn to identify these species, to collect a taxon and to observe the specificities of each on camera. The videos are complemented by a textile creation that keeps the imprint of these plants. The pupils make prints on fabric in the courtyard using a photosensitive substance: the cyanotype technique, which fixes color under the action of sunlight.
The students chose to name this creation “Planthéon”.
cyanotype printing workshop
photos©Fanny_Müller