“The pieces of the forest”, a casual reading of the Landes de Gascogne forest

Lhe forest goes beyond its simple physical reality: it embodies a natural, cultural, human and symbolic construction, reflecting our relationships with nature and the world. This complex space, shaped by multiple stories and processes, is at the heart of the exhibition “The pieces of the forest”, which offers an original reading of the Landes de Gascogne forest.

At the origin of this project: Neringa Forest Architecture, a Lithuanian collective founded in 2019 in the Curonian Spit, in the far west of Lithuania. Made up of Jurga Daubaraite, Egija Inzule and Jonas Žukauskas, it combines architecture, artistic and scientific research, as well as environmental education.

In 2023, during the 18^e Venice Architecture Biennale, the collective presented “Children's Forest Pavilion” at the Lithuanian pavilion: “a playful landscape, inspired by the exceptional ability of children to observe and analyze forests”, recounts the collective. Invited by the Arc en Rêve architecture center, as part of the Lithuanian Season in France, the team delivers here a second chapter of this project, this time focused on the local context: the Landes de Gascogne forest.

Interactive

The exhibition is spread over three spaces. An introductory film, “Forest workshops”, retraces educational activities carried out in Lithuania and Finland. Next comes a play of shadows, which invites visitors to manipulate, using a device inspired by overhead projectors, transparencies taken from Léon Dufour's herbarium, X-ray photographs of maritime pines and plant samples. collected in the Landes. Samples to which can be added those brought by anyone.

Finally, a vast interactive installation – at once an architectural object, a conceptual structure and a fantastic playground – occupies the last room: wooden elements, from various forests (exploited, experimental, gardened, protected, etc.), can be assembled freely on a perforated platform to create branched structures.

Reflecting a mosaic where practices, uses and essences of nature mingle, this installation invites us to take a renewed look at the Landes de Gascogne forest. Often perceived as uniform due to the monoculture of maritime pines, it is in reality home to a rich ecosystem, whose multiple facets fuel reflection on its future, at the intersection of economic and industrial dynamics and growing concerns for the preservation of nature. biodiversity.

Exhibition-workshop “The pieces of the forest” until Sunday May 25, arc en rêve architecture center, 7, rue Ferrère, Bordeaux. Every day except Monday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Entrance fee: 4.50-8 euros. 05 56 52 78 36. arcenreve.eu