Testi critici, Regno Unito, London, 11 July 2011
For many engineers, the transmission towers that span the countryside are works of art in their own right, but for installation artist Elena Paroucheva, who lives and works in France, these towers were just the beginning. In her work, Elena searches for connections between art, energy and the environment, and she saw that transmission towers provided her with, in effect, a blank canvas that she could use to develop and display these ideas.
Accordingly, she entered into discussions with RTE, the organisation responsible for the French electricity transmission network, and after two years of negotiation, she was granted permission to transform the appearance of four high-voltage transmission towers on the 225 kV line between the French cities of Amnéville and Montois. RTE also sponsored and supervised her work.
Before Elena’s ideas could be translated into reality, however, eighteen months of study were needed for, among other things, technical validation of the proposed methods for transforming the towers and the selection of suitable materials that would ensure the sustainability and resistance to degradation of the installations.
Ultimately Elena Paroucheva started work on her metamorphosis of the transmission towers in August 2001 and completed it by December 2003. The project was no minor undertaking – in total it used 3,284 m of steel cable, 2,708 m of stays, 525 m of plastic canvas, 576 m of steel tube and 40 light projectors that are controlled via a satellite communications link.
The title of the project is -
“Source – A Monumental Artwork” and the themes for the four transmission towers are “Source – Light”, “Source – Water”, “Source – Energy” and “Source – Flame”. As the pictures accompanying this article show, the results she has achieved are both inspirational and impressive.
For this project, which has been much admired by the public in general and by the art world, Elena has received widespread recognition, including most recently the laureate award for Science and Technology in European Art in a competition organised by SUPELEC within the framework of the French Presidency of the European Union.
Much more information about Elena Paroucheva’s unique “Source” project can be found on her website at www.art-elena.com, and there can certainly be no doubt that she has made her own rather special contribution to the art of power transmission!
Accordingly, she entered into discussions with RTE, the organisation responsible for the French electricity transmission network, and after two years of negotiation, she was granted permission to transform the appearance of four high-voltage transmission towers on the 225 kV line between the French cities of Amnéville and Montois. RTE also sponsored and supervised her work.
Before Elena’s ideas could be translated into reality, however, eighteen months of study were needed for, among other things, technical validation of the proposed methods for transforming the towers and the selection of suitable materials that would ensure the sustainability and resistance to degradation of the installations.
Ultimately Elena Paroucheva started work on her metamorphosis of the transmission towers in August 2001 and completed it by December 2003. The project was no minor undertaking – in total it used 3,284 m of steel cable, 2,708 m of stays, 525 m of plastic canvas, 576 m of steel tube and 40 light projectors that are controlled via a satellite communications link.
The title of the project is -
“Source – A Monumental Artwork” and the themes for the four transmission towers are “Source – Light”, “Source – Water”, “Source – Energy” and “Source – Flame”. As the pictures accompanying this article show, the results she has achieved are both inspirational and impressive.
For this project, which has been much admired by the public in general and by the art world, Elena has received widespread recognition, including most recently the laureate award for Science and Technology in European Art in a competition organised by SUPELEC within the framework of the French Presidency of the European Union.
Much more information about Elena Paroucheva’s unique “Source” project can be found on her website at www.art-elena.com, and there can certainly be no doubt that she has made her own rather special contribution to the art of power transmission!
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