Arc majeur

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The Arc Majeur is a sculpture by the French artist Bernar Venet , which was installed in 2019 on the right and left of the E 411 motorway , ( kilometer point 99 ), near Lavaux-Sainte-Anne in Belgium. The partners of the project are the Fondation John Cockerill, the Région wallonne and the SOFICO Wallonie. At 60 m high, the sculpture is one of the highest in Europe.

Data

Height: large arch 60 m, small arch: 28 m
Width of the arch: 2.25 m
Diameter: 75 m
Radian measure: 205.5 °
Material: 250 tons of corten steel
Foundation: 1000 tons of concrete
Cost: 2.5 - 2.8 million euros

financing

The John Cockerill Foundation took over the largest part of the financing and also took over the costs for the design and statics as well as for securing the construction site. The remaining costs were met by Belgian companies and patrons.

Manufacturing

The sculpture was made in the production facilities of the John Cockerill Group in Seraing . Four welders and three fitters worked for several months to complete the project. In order to neutralize the vibrations caused by the action of the wind, the tip of the large arch was equipped with a vibration damper (ADA), which was specially developed for this project by the Greisch office in collaboration with the University of Liège .

For the transport, the large arch was divided into three parts, each 20 m, weight 40 to 50 tons. The small arch consists of a piece of 20 m length.

history

It took 35 years from the first idea to construct such an arch to its final realization. The first sketches were made around 1984 in connection with a corresponding project planned by the then French Minister of Culture, Jack Lang , to install such an arch on a French motorway. Initially, the Autoroute du Soleil near Auxerre was considered , but the project failed due to security concerns and resistance from the residents. In 2000 there was another attempt in France, but the sculpture was to be painted red, which Venet refused. In 2014, Bernard Serin from the John Cockerill Group got involved in Venet's idea, so that his Arc Majeur could be realized after 35 years of preparation. The 20 km stretch of the motorway where the arch is installed is one of the few in Belgium that is not illuminated. The arch is illuminated at night and can therefore be seen from afar.

The inauguration took place on October 12, 2019.

Circular arcs in the work of Bernard Venet

217.5 Arc x 13 , Sunset Beach, Vancouver

After his first stay in New York, Venet dealt intensively with minimal art . In the now-created pipe sculptures ( tubes ) and drawings, he integrated mathematical formulas. From 1971 he temporarily stopped his artistic activity, temporarily taught art theory at the Sorbonne and dealt intensively with mathematical and physical problems, as well as with the phenomena of space, time and movement. From the early 1980s onwards, these topics flowed into his exploration of geometry - with lines, with fragments of circular arcs and ring shapes - in the form of his monumental steel sculptures. The Lignes Droites and Lignes indéterminées , the Angles and the Arcs were created . Here he does not work with perfect, geometric circular shapes, but with fragments of circles or several identical arcs, which he places parallel one behind the other or which are twisted against each other as if by chance. In a later phase he grouped a series of multiple arcs in space and related them to one another. The Arc Majeur in Belgium is an exception in that the two arcs to the right and left of the road complement each other in the eye of the beholder to form a complete, closed circle through which the motorway leads.

In Europe and the United States, Venet's Arc sculptures are usually installed in prominent urban plazas or like landmarks .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wallonia infrastructure SOFICO. Press release, 8 November 2018, Lavaux-Saint-Anne - E411 / A4 Début des travaux de l'Arc Majeur placement.
  2. ↑ 35 Years After France Rejected Art - 2020 Fuller Society, accessed July 18, 2020
  3. ^ L'Arc Majeur en montage sur l'E411 à Lavaux-Sainte-Anne Matélé ,
  4. ↑ bernar venet frames belgian motorway in monumental corten steel l'arc majeur designboom, accessed on July 18, 2020
  5. ↑ Bureau d'études Greisch: 60 ans d'excellence , accessed on July 5, 2020
  6. ↑ 35 ans après sa commande par Jack Lang, cet arc géant va orner une autoroute belge Capitale, Lifefestyle, August 1, 2019, accessed on July 18, 2020
  7. ↑ Margaux Coratte: Janvier La plus grande sculpture publique d'Europe habille une autoroute belge numero.com, January 23, 2020, accessed on July 18, 2020
  8. ↑ L'oeuvre Arc majeur officiellement inaugurée sur l'E411 à Rochefort rtbf.be, accessed on July 15, 2020