Note : In French, the made-up title « Lots-Ange » is a poetic deformation of rhombus (« losange » in french), the elementary geometrical form. The pronunciation is almost identical. I kept the same translation in English « Lots-Angel ».

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Alfred Kastler high school, Guebwiller, France.
Classes of 2nde, 1st and Final years of high school: 55 pupils

1. Introduction : The art of garden

2. The general idea: inlay of 14 rhombuses of one meter and half on side in lawn

3. Calendar: February-April 2012

4. Stages of the project

4. Stage 1: Plan on ground (P.O.G.)

4. Stage 2: Delimitation and layout of the « rhombuses »

4. Stage 3: Preparation of the ground = > digging the rhombuses

4. Stage 4: Place at the creation of the high-school pupils

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1. Introduction : The art of garden

Administratively, it is a “loan” (to be agreed) of 14 small portions of the green park of the high school, along the alley which crosses the park of the high school.. The park will return to its original shape immediately after …

Pedagogically, the artists are not long, in fact, to seize this raw material which is the garden, living canvas put at their disposal, the garden is a testing ground of essay, experiences, possible innovations.

Anne Cauquelin specifies that : « Contemporary artists denounce the traditional concept of work, finite and frozen for eternity, it is the process of creation, the work being done which is privileged.

However, the garden offers a unexpected field for this type of practice : always trying to do and to undo, it presents all the lines of construction / deconstruction of determination / indeterminacy and random / controlled around of which evolves most contemporary artists.

On the ecological point of view, « art of the garden » is practically converted in medical art, ; it is a question of looking after nature and to ensure a healthy development.

This aesthetic corresponds very certainly to a contemporary expectation concerning the survival of the planet and should be developed in conjunction with « Arts of the garden. »

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I – 2. The general idea : inlay of 14 rhombuses of one side meter in the lawn

In Alsace, at the bottom of the Vosgean mountain, the Alfred Kastler high school of Guebwiller (East of France), is framed of a splendid landscape.

Thus, in the center of the high school, the long alley which crosses the green park, dotted by splendid trees, offers visions and points of sights which inspires. The alley is a corridor of required passage to reach the various parts of the high school. (Cf. Image 1 et Image 2 .)

The objective is double, on the one hand, working on a new support (medium) : the ground and its requirements , and secondly, to design, in miniature, the city of future (or the future of the city).

Three classes took part in the project:
The class of the 2nd Plastic Arts (12 students) for the installation of the general structure of the 14 rhombuses ;
The 1st class (19 students), and Final years of high school (23 students) for the installation of the 14 projects in the rhombuses. The students were divided into groups of three.

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3. Calendar: February-April 2012: according to time, => simultaneous management 2 projects

According to time (weather), which implies the simultaneous management of two projects.

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4. Stages of the project

At no time there will be a “building site effect”.
Each step is a facet of the work in general.

We proceed by small ” touches ”
In order to seize the plastic and semantic challenges.

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4. Stage 1: Plan on ground (P.O.G.)

According to the topographic data of the ground.
Locations at the level of the sides of the alley.
Delimitation of the rhombuses thanks to cleats of 200 cm.

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4. Stage 2: Delimitation and layout of the « rhombuses »

Layout of the portion concerned.
Delimitation of each rhombus with small cleats of 20 cm. pricked in the ground.

Accessories :

– Wire : 5m x 14 = 70 m.
– Cleats : 4 x 14 (20cm height) = 56 (the cleats will be bevelled according to a particular pattern)
– First request for the technical department of the high school : The beveling of the pickets.
– Strip colors: 14

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4. Stage 3: Preparation of the ground = > digging the rhombuses

Being given the high proportion of pupils girls 38/43 = 88%
I wish to lean on the technical service department of the high school.
Second (and last) request to the technical department : digging of the rhombuses. (Cf. Image 3 – Image 7)

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4. Stage 4: Place to the creation of the high-school pupils

It was not easy for the students to approach this new medium, which is the garden, and precisely, the change of support (medium) is always positive and promising. The results were surprising. (Cf. Image 8 et Image 9.)

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