Metamorphoses

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 (40 hours) of an artist or scientist whose mission is to engage the students in a process of research and creation.

Tutors:
Ana Maria Lozano Rivera/ Artist, Flore Dallennes, Coline Fontaine, Thibaut Louvet/ Designers

Project manager:
Lucille Negre

Objectives:
As part of the “Metamorphoses” project, four classes were invited to experiment with 3D printing techniques with a shared printer. Using traditional printing codes, the printer did not print with plastic but clay. Art, design and architecture were taken as inspiration to use the equipment to realise their projects.

Workshop:
The World of Printing
3D printing is now inescapable in many fields: how can this phenomenon be explained? Pictures as well as real examples were discussed in class. The students were able to test the various functions of a printer brought into the classroom. The contributor presented its printing mechanism, the role of the source file, printing by adding or removing, the use of wood, paper, resin, etc.

Ink and Vegetation
Once they had learnt about printing processes, the students had to devise a sculpture project. They had to take into account the printer’s possibilities and limitations to produce ideas and forms. The class drew up a project, divided up the tasks and began to draw plans of the elements that made up the final realisation. Some of the students were instructed to imagine the uses and furniture for a park while others designed a city with surrealist and ecological architecture.

Artificial Nature
The word “printing” goes hand-in-hand with the word “ink”. The tests the students carried out made it possible to determine the right consistency of the clay. The technical exploration continued with the addition of seeds into the inks. Once the printers had been brought into the classroom, the students were able to start printing their designs. The students were divided into groups and while the first group tested the ink, the second handled the software and the machine.

Outcome:
Each class installed and exhibited its project in school until the end of the school year. Once the exhibition area had been decided upon, the sculpture was mounted. It was then up to the students to stage their creation and describe their work designing their ideal park and their futuristic city.

Acknowledgements:
Grégoire Simonnet/ Les fabriqueurs (Makers), Sabine Beutin/ botanist.

Outings (selection):
- Cité des Arts
- Fablab Makerz, La Villette
- Cartier Foundation,  Junya Ishigami exhibition, Freeing Architecture
- Parc de la Villette
- Fab Lab de la Villette
- Parc de la Courneuve
- Greenhouses, Jardin des Plantes

Participating Schools:
- Class 6ème4, Collège Honoré de Balzac, Neuilly-sur-Marne.
- Class 5 ème1, Collège Jean-Baptiste Corot, Raincy.
- Class 6 èmeA Segpa, Collège Henri Barbusse, Saint-Denis.
- Class 4ème3 Segpa, Collège Federico Garcia Lorca, Saint-Denis.

Scenography: ELODIE DESCOUBES

Photos: PIERRE ANTOINE