On 2 March 2015 an application to participate in an art-for-architecture project for the Franco-German embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh was submitted. The new embassy building in Dhaka is the first binational embassy to be built jointly by Germany and France. The application includes the first ideas for an artistic solution, under the title “Michelle-Marianne”, for art-for-architecture.
colours
as a rod-like object
15-04-001
in standing mode
15-04-002
in hanging mode
15-04-003
Two considerations determine the concept:
1. An image is to be found for the duality and at the same time the unity of two nations. The nature and the liveliness of this unity is to be explored artistically and experienced sensually as a visual message.
2. In its aesthetics and its communicative content, the architecture of the building is to be given an answer and confirmation.
On the aspect of duality:
The language of the object Michelle-Marianne is colour. The medium of colour allows recourse to the national colours, a metaphorical expression of the identity and history of Germany and France. A colour concept that essentially determines the object is based on the colours of the countries. This means that Michelle-Marianne is primarily the realisation of colour. In total, six national colours are united. Yet in reality there are only five, because red is the element common to the German black-red-gold and the French blue-white-red. The colour concept therefore rests on an exploration of the red. The colour red is unlocked und richly orchestrated in its nuances. In the red-orange and red-brown zone, the red tends to the black-red-gold side. In the purple, red-magenta and red-violet zone, it tends to the blue-white-red side. By unfolding its possibilities, the colour at the same time refers to its rootedness in the national colours of the two countries. In a nutshell, the red is based on the duality and brings about the unity. The interaction of the two nations is made into a living process in the form of a colour story.
On the formal relationship to the architecture:
With Michelle-Marianne, the architecture gains a counterpart that does not confuse, dilute or impair its clear language through an additional formal vocabulary. On the contrary, the clarity of the architecture can be experienced even more strongly through the antithesis of media. Michelle-Marianne sets the immateriality of the colour activity against the architectural materiality of the cuboid mass. Colour is manifested in a large number of fine rods, which lend it a noticeable presence that is , however, neither form nor mass, but creates only an ephemeral veil. As numerous as the rods are the views through them, connecting the colour phenomenon with the reality of the surroundings, primarily with the architecture.
On the implementation:
Michelle-Marianne has been conceived for implementation in two places. The standing mode of the rods outside, together with the hanging mode of the rods inside, forms a duo that displays a common colour language and an expression of colour in two differently designed variations.