- Michel Corajoud
(landscape is the place where the sky and the earth touch)
Apparently it was the Seattle artist, Jim Pridgeon, who had a concept to create a drawing in the sky by unrolling a long reflective mylar sheet in the lowest level of orbiting satellites around the earth. Depending on the time of day, the drawing would be more or less visible and at its most visible at sunset. On a global scale, Pridgeon's sculpture was supposed to capture and reflect the light of the sun to make a cut in the sky. This crisp edge of brighter light was the first aesthetic act of the reflected surface.
Generally people love reflections -- perhaps because it helps them see themselves as they think others see them?
But it seems that nowadays buildings that are completely covered in heavily reflective glass walls are no longer as popular as they used to be. Now the glass or the metal surfaces that cover them are either less reflective and/or covering less of the building surfaces. The 1970's and 80's reflective building that attempted to disappear into the sky has all but disappeared - or the buildings take on a different -- a fun - humorous kind of aspect. (as these scaffolding covers in Paris)
Now we have different forms of reflection -- and the most clever of these has to be the reflecting pools or water mirrors, such as the brilliant water mirror in Bordeaux, designed by the French landscape architects, Claire and Michel Corajoud and opened in October 2006.
Corajoud replaced the unsightly working docks of the Garonne Quais on the Gironde River with a giant rectangle of black granite covered with 5cm of water -- a surface large enough to reflect the entire 18th century (previous)Stock Exchange building. The water is added to by an interesting system of mist sprays and delicate fountains that seem to spurt diamonds into the air. As one observer puts it "The water mirror both forces people to stop and observe their reflection and then to bring them together in the play of splashing water".
Fascinating to watch people interact on the mirror. Young and old take off their shoes and enjoy the experience. People push others in wheelchairs. Children try to chase their reflections, try to catch the water, try to anticipate the mist sprays. Young girls laugh. Old people gaze at their reflected faces between their bare toes. And everyone loves the relief that the coolness of the water brings to their tired and hot feet.
No doubt one of the highlights of a visit to the Beautiful Bordeaux.
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