Utopia House, 2016-2019 |
| The Utopia House adventure is the result of an artistic commission initiated and carried out by La Kunsthalle - centre d'art contemporain de Mulhouse with the Lycée Saint Joseph de Cluny, the City of Mulhouse, the Lycée des Métiers du BTP Gustave Eiffel and the Fondation Bullukian. From 2016 to 2019, Jan Kopp is leading this itinerant project between Mulhouse and Lyon, in collaboration with students and numerous partners. All the stages of the project are documented, from the first workshops with students in 2016 to the boat's swimming in the spring of 2018. — Focus on the Utopia House project is published on the Réseau documents d'artistes website. |
| — Interview with Jan Kopp on the Makery website |
| — Program "Carnets de campagne", 29/05/2018 on France Inter : presentation of the project by Sandrine Wymann, director of La Kunsthalle Mulhouse |
| — Report of France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 29/05/2018 (Arrival in Lyon) |
| — Report of the newspaper L'Alsace, 7/05/2018 (Departure from Utopia House) |
| — Report of the newspaper L'Alsace, 19/04/2018 |
| — Extract of the JT of France 3 Haute-Alsace, 19/04/2018 |
View of the assembly at the Nautilia shipyard, Illzach © Jan Kopp, 2018
A project by Jan Kopp, supported by La Kunsthalle Mulhouse - City of Mulhouse - Lycée St Joseph de Cluny, Mulhouse - Lycée des Métiers du BTP Gustave Eiffel, Cernay - Fondation Bullukian, Lyon
Simulation of the structure: habitable on the left, navigable on the rightThe Utopia House project is the result of an artistic commission initiated by La Kunsthalle - center d'art contemporain de Mulhouse and the Lycée Saint Joseph de Cluny with the visual artist Jan Kopp. This commission concerns the renovation of the students' hostel of the vocational training establishment, which has become too small, not very user-friendly and out of date.
Utopia House is a sculptural work designed by Jan Kopp for and by the youth of the Lycée Saint Joseph de Cluny. Committed since 2016, the project involves the students of the high schools, but also many territorial actors, on the design of this new space.
Beyond this commission, Jan Kopp chose to expand his study to the issue of housing, mobility, homelessness, the problems of emergency accommodation and housing crisis as well as the need for alternative architectures.
This project is thus at the heart of different approaches related to artistic creation, eco-responsible construction, sustainable development, solidarity and education.
"My idea is to build a space that can be disassembled and can navigate. I want to give this "house" a first life as a travelling home that can accommodate a number of students [...] to make a trip of about ten days on the Rhine-Rhone canal. [...] What also interests me is the question of the age of the future users of this place: they are young people on the verge of adulthood and the trip could, why not, be imagined as a journey of initiation." J.K.
At the end of its journey, the floating structure returns to Mulhouse to be installed. The framework used for this boat will then be transformed by tilting into the roof structure of a new place.
Utopia House, from Mulhouse, May 7, 2018
Utopia House, on arrival in Lyon, May 20, 2018
Itinerary of the navigation between Mulhouse and Lyon, on the canal from the Rhine to the Rhone and then on the Saône river
Travelling time of 11 days on about 417 km, crossing 126 locks
Structure drawings
THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE PROJECT
1 - AUTUMN 2016: Workshop
In November and December 2016, students from the Lycée Saint Joseph de Cluny (Mulhouse) and the Lycée des métiers du BTP Gustave Eiffel (Cernay) took part in workshops during which they designed and built rafts from recycled materials to test all the stages of a navigable construction (practicability, buoyancy, feasibility).
2 - SPRING 2017: Workshop
In April 2017, a workshop - led by Jan Kopp and Bruno De Micheli, architect - entitled "Utopia Practis: designing floating huts in 5 days" took place at the Écomusée d'Alsace with 25 students from the Strasbourg School of Architecture.
3 - JULY 2017: Construction and launching of the prototype
In July 2017, a 1/2 scale prototype, built by the students of the wood course of the Lycée Eiffel in Cernay, was launched at the Écomusée d'Alsace to test its buoyancy.
4 - SPRING 2018: Construction
After being machined in the spring of 2018 by the students of the "wood construction" course at the Lycée des métiers du BTP in Cernay, the parts were assembled at the Nautilia shipyard in Illzach to become a 14-meter long and 5-meter wide boat. The structure, filled with polystyrene, was launched and tested to obtain a navigation certificate.
5 - MAY 2018 : Navigation from Mulhouse to Lyon
Photos : © La Kunsthalle Mulhouse
The boat Utopia House was transported by river from Mulhouse to Lyon to be presented by the Bullukian Foundation, as a prelude to Jan Kopp's solo exhibition organized at the Bullukian Foundation from October 2018.
During approximately ten days of navigation, Jan Kopp led the floating structure on the Rhine/Rhône canal, then on the Saône, for a journey of about 417 km, crossing 126 locks. This navigation time was invested by the artist and the successive crews (high school students and teachers, partners, patrons, press...) to produce a trace (video, photography, weaving...) of this extraordinary experience.
- May 29-31, 2018
During its stopover in Lyon, Utopia House was visible on the Rhone quay, on the Place Antonin Poncet side, this presence on the quay resonating with a presentation of the project and various events organized at the Bullukian Foundation, 26 Place Bellecour, Lyon.
In this context, the Bullukian Foundation and Documents d'artistes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes have invited Jan Kopp for an evening of public meetings, on May 30 at 7pm.
> see the filmed interview
///////////////Utopia House
Film documentaire réalisé par Norman Nedellec, 2018
Navigation Mulhouse > Lyon
6 - JUNE 2018 : Return to Mulhouse
Departure on Friday, June 22 from the Edouard Herriot port of Lyon.
Arrival at the Mulhouse marina on Sunday, July 1.
7 - September 13 to November 11, 2018
Presentation of Utopia House as part of the exhibition Your North is your South at La Kunsthalle, center d'art contemporain de la Ville de Mulhouse. Exhibition in partnership with the Museum für Neue Kunst in Freiburg which presents the exhibition Your North is my South.
8 - From 2019
The work becomes the roof structure of a new place in Mulhouse...
Project holders:
La Kunsthalle Mulhouse - Ville de Mulhouse - Lycée professionnel St Joseph de Cluny, Mulhouse - Lycée professionnel des Métiers du BTP Gustave Eiffel, Cernay - Fondation Bullukian, Lyon
With the support of :
ACMISA, Action Culturelle en Milieu Scolaire d'Alsace - Ameco, Illfurth - AURM, Agence d’Urbanisme de la Région Mulhousienne - Bois&Techniques, Soultz - Centre Alsace Levage, Sainte-Croix-en-Plaine - Centre d’Interprétation de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, Mulhouse - Conseil Départemental du Haut-Rhin - Club de voile de Mulhouse, Reiningue - Club de Canoë Kayak de Mulhouse, Riedisheim - CNR, Compagnie Nationale du Rhône / Port Édouard Herriot, Lyon - Coved environnement - Documents d’artistes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Strasbourg - Écomusée d’Alsace, Ungersheim - Fibois Alsace - Fondation de France - Foussier quincaillerie, Illzach - France 3 Grand Est - Goethe Institut - Institut Supérieur Social de Mulhouse - Journal l’Alsace - KAPLA France SARL - L'Art et la matière, Mulhouse - Lycée Ettore Bugatti, Illzach - Lycée des Métiers Charles Stoessel, Mulhouse - Maison Européenne de l’Architecture, Strasbourg - Ministère de la Culture - DRAC Grand Est et DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - Mécanique bateaux LD, Villeurbanne - Musées Mulhouse Sud Alsace - Nautilia Travaux Subaquatiques, Illzach - Ravatherm France SAS - Région Grand Est - Scierie Phan SARL, Dolleren - Siat Braun, Molsheim - Sivom de la région mulhousienne - VNF - Voies navigables de France.