During our class visit to the CREDAC and reiterated in conversation with the group the day afterward, it became clear that the physical location, structure, and known history of La Manufacture des Oeillets played a large role in how Simon Boudvin’s exhibit, Grain, was received.  Given that our first impressions were determined by the building and location, it seems like an appropriate place to start.

Located a short distance from the University of Chicago Center in Paris, La Manufacture des Oeillets is a historically recognized manufacturing plant in the heart of Ivry.  There, lies a plethora of manufacturing buildings whose construction dates back to 1913.  One of those was the American Building, a red-brick building constructed in the Chicago style model of a glass-and-steel daylight factory designed to provide workers with the light and air they needed to maintain their own health and efficiency.  The building diverges from regionalism and the traditional architecture in France in favor of a more international construction that boasts clear, modern lines within a four-story building with an unobstructed inside and floor-to-ceiling windows.

From the beginning of our visit, when the group entered the American Building, we immediately encountered a group of art students constructing some sort of sculpture made from wood.  To me, this helped reiterate the significance of the American Building’s long history of being a center of construction, even to this day, which interacted nicely with Simon Boulvin’s take on Twingo and deconstruction as an overlooked art.

After encountering the students, the group entered a large, industrial-scale elevator, where we were brought up to the CREDAC.  Once again, this unique feature helped make the building feel more like a part of the art itself than just a blank space to display artwork.  The elevator was reminiscent of something you would see in a car factory, so when exiting and confronted with a plethora of disconnected car parts, it too became a part of the experience and had an impact on the way in which the art was interpreted.

Upon entering the main room of the CREDAC, all four pieces of artwork were visible.  The Twingo, stools, Duralex glass, and prints of the building bars from Hanoi were presented across the open room.  The main room consisted of the exterior Twingo parts, mostly light blue in color, which popped against the neutral gray walls and cement floor.  The large windows in the first room allowed for an abundance of natural light, which reflected off the metallic paint of the car pieces causing various shades of light blue to be visible.  In my opinion, it was a very aesthetically pleasing color that dominated one’s attention.  I find it interesting how the Twingo was such a popular car, especially in Paris, while coming in such vibrant colors.  I feel like today Parisians almost exclusively wear neutrals like black or beige and it is difficult to picture an abundance of bright-colored cars driving through the streets of Paris.

Aside from that, the way the deconstructed car parts were staged throughout the room allowed the viewer to appreciate each piece individually, taking notice of the small, intricate details that would otherwise be missed.  For example, the stripes in the glass of the rear window or the subtle convex curvature that keeps it from pressing flat against the wall.  Also, in the car door that was resting against the wall, the mechanism that was used for raising a lowering the window was on full display, and with little else to look at, it caused you to take notice of tiny details you otherwise would never see.  The car hood had three distinct air vent cutouts and a seemingly unintentional dent in the center of it, all small details that would be difficult to take notice of in a fully constructed car, but easy to notice after deconstructed and presented separately.

The other two rooms that displayed the Twingo were split between showing interior pieces such as the seats and dashboard, while the other focused on showing the mechanical components such as the engine and wiring.  As a result, each of the three rooms had a distinct color theme.  The first is blue due to the exterior of the car, the second tan and light grey from the interior components of the car, and the last black, from all the mechanical pieces that were removed from underneath or within the internals of the car.  One common critic that many of us had was that we would have liked to see the pieces of automobile displayed with more variety.  In the third room, Simon Boudvin presented wires strung up on the wall in a particular shape.  This was refreshing and an interesting change from the rest of the items which were either on the floor or resting on shelving.  Overall, the Twingo display was my favorite part of the exhibit and raised interesting questions about construction, deconstruction, and art all while utilizing the space and building very well.

The stools which were staggered throughout all three rooms and in the final film room added a nice interactive element to the exhibit.  Not only were they a part of the art, but they had their own utility as a place to stop and rest, look around, or to sit and read the complementing book about Simon Boudvin’s inspiration for the stools.  I enjoyed the sheer variety of stools, the book describing his inspiration for them, and the interactive cards that allowed you to design your own stool.  I found that they drew attention to the small details of another seemingly common and overlooked object.

The Duralex glass and the images of the window bars were interesting as they also dove into displaying the finer artistic details that are present in everyday life.  This time, instead of presenting us with actual objects, Simon transformed those objects into images that grab your attention and better highlight the fine details within them.  The images of the Duralex glasses were made by placing an object directly on photosensitive paper and exposing it to light, which highlights all the stains and imperfections of the glass from years of constant use.

Additionally, the window bars were presented as dark black lines contrasted by vibrant single-color backgrounds.  I enjoyed the look of these, however, I feel like the final presentation of them could have been better as the paper pinned to the wall was reminiscent of a simple poster would see hanging in a college apartment.  Despite that, the video that accompanied the posters did a good job explaining Simon’s inspiration by showing and not telling.  After viewing the video, I found it interesting to go back and relook at the images with a new perspective.

All in all, the trip to the CREDAC was better than I had expected.  The building truly did play a large role in how the artwork was received by the class.  While only having one exhibit, I found the CREDAC visit was interesting, contemporary, and something that prompted a variety of unique set of questions and emotions, different from what we have already seen in the class thus far.