Les pièces de la forêt
Forest Parts
from 28 November 2024 to 25 May 2025
galerie blanche
arc en rêve centre d’architecture, Bordeaux
Elements that can be freely assembled to create interconnectable structures; wood samples collected from private monoculture plantations, experimental forests, private and state-managed mixed forests; materials from industrial timber production processes. These are just some of the ‘forest parts’ which, in this exhibition by the Neringa Forest Architecture collective, provide tactile links to the stories, processes and practices that have shaped and continue to shape the Landes de Gascogne forests.
This vast wooded area is a mosaic of practices determined not only by the imperatives of maritime pine monoculture but also by the practices of care for its biodiversity. Conceived as a playscape, this exhibition is an invitation to the forest. Beginning with a film documenting outdoor workshops held in the forests of Lithuania and Finland, it unfolds through a Shadow Play animated by projections, a Samples Play for interacting with wooden elements, and a Timeline tracing both the history and the future of this complex ecosystem.
The exhibition includes workshops and educational activities for school groups, organising visits to forests and industrial sites which are rarely accessed by the public. These visits allow young people to experience different forestry and timber production practices and participate in discussions about the possible futures of woodland areas.
CREDITS:
Exhibition curators and designers
Neringa Forest Architecture(Jurga Daubaraitė, Egija Inzule and Jonas Žukauskas)
The Forest Workshops
Film by Neringa Forest Architecture and the Mustarinda Association (Michaela Casková, Riita (Nyyskä) Nykänen, Robin Everett, Tiina Arjukka Hirvonen) • Text and narration: Riitta (Nyyskä) Nykänen • Camera: Eitvydas Doškus, Elis Hannikainen • Editing: Ignè Narbutaité • 39:17 min
Produced on the occasion of the Children’s Forest Pavilion, Lithuania at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2023.
opening talk
28 11 2024, 18:30
Jacques Sargos, writer, publisher, historian and art expert and Arnaud Sergent, research engineer in Political Science at INRAE Nouvelle‑Aquitaine-Bordeaux
We would like to thank our partners, institutions, companies and individuals for their contribution to the exhibition:
Adam (Matthias Demaitre) • Alliance Forêt Bois (Loïc Cotten) • Assemblons (Mathieu Baehr) • l’Association de gestion de la forêt usagère de Biscarosse (Bernard Cassen) • Au Liégeur (Denis Sabouret) • Cécile Faye • le Conseil Départemental de la Gironde (Fabien Marque, Marion Molveaux) • Eric Castex • Fibois (Géraldine Gay Mallet) • Gascogne Bois (Nicolas Bordenave) • le Groupement Forestier Uzestois (Pascal Seguin) • INRAE Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bordeaux (Annabel Porté, Arnaud Sergent, Bastien Castagneyrol, Christophe Plomion, Frédéric Danjon, Frédéric Lagane, Laurent Boufier, Maksym Loginov, Yulia Prokopuk) • I2M Université de Bordeaux (Jean-Luc Coureau) • l’Institut Technologique FCBA (Patrick Moulinié) • Jacques Sargos • Lamécol (Laurent Daudigny) • Mustarinda Association (Michaela Casková, Riita (Nyyskä) Nykänen, Robin Everett, Tiina Arjukka Hirvonen) • l’Office National des Forêts (Caroline Fourcade) • le Parc Naturel Régional des Landes de Gascogne (Ruben Penin) • Pierre Husky • Scierie Labadie (Philippe Labadie) • Scierie Labrousse (Jean-François Labrousse) • SEPANSO Aquitaine (Enzo Andel) • Smurfit Westrock • Stéphanie Lafitte • le Syndicat des propriétaires de la forêt usagère de La Teste de Buch (Jean Dubrous) • THEBAULT (Vincent Mautord)
arc en rêve centre d’architecture, the team:
Fabrizio Gallanti – director; Adrien Bensignor – general secretary; publishing – Christophe Catsaros, communication – Leonardo Lella, Fanny Leglise; public relations and partnership – Anastassia Mathie; curatorial team – Wenwen Cai, Eric Dordan; production – Cyrille Brisou, Denys Zhdanov; graphic design – Emmanuelle Maura, Marie Christine Mendy; education – Sara Meunier, Flora Stich; administration – Sylvaine Vigneau; services to the public – Massimo Capano, Hakima Chahid, Claudine Wierstra; trainees – Adrien Cuttaz(ENSA Paris-La Vilette); external collaboration: graphic design assistant – Nicole Sapojnikov; woodwork – Vincent Grama and François Richard.
English proofreading – Gemma Lloyd
Photographs – Rodolphe Escher
Project is part of Lithuanian Season in France
PARTS OF THE PLAYSCAPE
Samples Play is an open-ended game where players of all ages interact with an assembly of wood elements, guided by their own imagination and intentions. Each sample can also be read and decoded by linking it to its origin—whether to the specific forest and habitat where the tree grew or the process that transformed it into a timber product. The accompanying texts provide an overview and introduction to these sources:
English – Samples Play
Français – Jeu d’échantillons
Shadow Play is an enclosed space animated by the play of shadows created from various plants, lichens, and mushrooms: impressions on transparent film derived from the plates of the Léon Dufour Herbarium preserved at the Bordeaux Botanical Garden, X-ray images of maritime pine (Pin maritime) samples intended for dendrochronology (the analysis of events experienced by a tree throughout its lifetime) from the research of L. Bouffier and F. Lagane at the joint INRAE/University of Bordeaux Biogeco research unit, as well as plant and other organism samples collected during various visits to the Landes de Gascogne forests. Visitors are invited to bring their own “forest findings” to create new shadows.
Chronology traces the main events and forces that have historically shaped the Landes de Gascogne forest, while also possibly overseeing the future.
