Le Figaro Bordeaux
On the right bank of the Garonne, in Floirac, passers-by will soon be able to walk among the stars.
An imposing work of art,
“the sky map”
, will complete the long-awaited new crossing of the Garonne, the Simone-Veil bridge, the inauguration of which is planned for this summer.
Covering an area of approximately 400 m² where it will be possible to move around, this installation will also be a tribute to local and international scientific history.
“A true monument dedicated to the international astronomical project launched in 1887, under the impetus of the Paris observatory, and intended to map and record the coordinates of several million stars in the celestial sphere, the work is designed for installation at the heart of a crossing public space, in order to be “activated” by the bodies of passers-by who cross it
,” explains Louidgi Beltrame, the artist behind this installation.
This sky map project began to see the light of day in 2013, when the artist was invited by the artistic committee of Commande Garonne, in order to
“think about a public art project”
.
He then
“immersed himself in the rich and fascinating history of the Floirac observatory which was then in the process of moving”
.
Louidgi Beltrame was thus able to benefit from guided tours and interviews with scientists still working on the site.
Also read: The spectacular and unexpected “splitting” of the Small Magellanic Cloud, astronomical superstar of the Southern Hemisphere
A photograph of the sky from 1922
The name of this work is also the same as that of the scientific project carried out collectively between 1887 and 1970 by around twenty global observatories.
“It was literally the first international scientific research project, which connected several astronomical observatories
,” adds the artist.
This
“great scientific utopia”,
however, did not achieve its ambitious objective: to photograph the entire celestial vault.
However, many photos of the sky map were printed using rotogravure.
For the Bordeaux area, there are 540 photogravures, all photographed by the Floirac observatory.
The reproduction of these images on the banks of the Garonne
“will be made up of slabs engraved and inlaid with brass elements which will represent the stars and will take up the writings of the model”
.
The celestial vault thus immortalized in the ground will correspond to a precise view of the sky photographed on June 22, 1922 at 10:15 p.m.
The sky map will be made in Bordeaux from March.
Louidgi Beltrame / Bordeaux Métropole