THE PERFECT CIRCLE

Versailles (F), 2008

The project compares the topography of the 17th Century garden at Versailles with the urban landscape of  Lingang New City in China, whose completion is planned for the year 2020. The video captures the artificial landscape of the Park of Versailles, which seems almost city-like, given its sense of perspective and geometry. This site still influences projects of urban planning today. Gschwantner’s mixed-media paintings overlay these two historically and spatially distant places, one upon the other.

The picture surfaces are built up in three dimensions, starting with the architectural ground level at Lingang New City as seen from the planner’s bird’s eye view. Over this, panoramas of the Park of Versailles are painted, then covered with PVC tubes containing water from the Grand Canal at Versailles mixed with glycerine.

Video:

The Perfect Circle, 2007
8:58 min
(C) Giorgio Cappozzo & Robert Gschwantner
Credits: Domaine National de Versailles, NÖ Kultur

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