Found objects

Since 2009, the Seine-Saint-Denis County Council has been backing “la Culture et l’Art au Collège (CAC)”. This project is based to a large extent on the presence in class for several weeks (40h) of an artist or scientist whose mission is to engage the students in a process of research and creation. 

 

Tutors: Solène Borrat, Élodie Cardinaud, Laure Garreaud/ designers

Project manager: Stéphane Coulaud

 

Objectives: 
One day perhaps the world will be virtual. But for the moment, materials are more than ever part of our environment. Why and how are the objects we “trust our lives to” invented? How does the inventor imagine they will be used?
In the course of “Found Objects” the pupils explore all these questions and subsequently design an object. This year the groups were all given the same constraint: using cardboard as their raw material.

Workshops:
Since cardboard was the only material allowed, the pupils made a study of it. In the first stage, they presented the various kinds of cardboard, from the most commonplace (shoeboxes, etc) to the most sophisticated (corrugated cardboard for packaging fragile objects, etc.) and defined its properties. 

In the next stage they explored the material’s potential. Experimenting with its plastic qualities, stiffness, flexibility, they designed shapes and objects that could be made from cardboard.

In the practical stage, the pupils made models of objects such as seats, light fittings, and hi-fi equipment.

Exhibition:
The models made by the pupils during the workshop were shown in a temporary exhibition from 14th to 18th May 2012, at École nationale supérieure de création industrielle, a partner for the Found Objects project in 2012.

Special thanks to Alain Cadix, director of ENSCI-Les Ateliers, Margot Casimir, educational officer, ENSCI-Les Ateliers

 

Outings (selection):
- MUSÉE DES ARTS DÉCORATIFS-UCAD
- ÉCOLE NATIONALE SUPÉRIEURE DE LA CRÉATION INDUSTRIELLE-WORKSHOPS

Participating schools:
- Class (6th), Collège La Courtille, Saint-Denis
- Class (5th) SEGPA, Collège Jean-Jaurès, Citypinte
- Class (3rd), Collège Jean-Baptiste-Corot, Le Raincy

LE COURS DES CHOSES

Avec la période de confinement, les démarches initiées en collège ont connu quelques changements, également quelques aménagements et surprises. Le moment est venu de présenter ce qui a été finalisé par les élèves, les enseignants et les intervenants. Cet espace de diffusion rapporte nombre de témoignages visuels, sous des formats à la fois fixes et animés, et invite les visiteurs à une découverte différenciée : en cela par projet identifié ou d’une manière plus aléatoire.