Undermining Paradise - L'Envers du Paradis

'Undermining Paradise' explores the terrifying beauty and the landscape of open pit mines. Mines are signs of both prosperity and devastation - a simultaneous paradise and hell for the communities whose existence they condition. Open pit mines, like most copper and gold mines, are large endeavours that dramatically transform a landscape semantically, spatially and environmentally, at an enormous scale. They generate devastating environmental legacies. Yet, open pit mines somehow touch a bittersweet chord as sublime, raw landscape expressions of the condition of modernity.

Our proposal presents and explores the reality and the imaginary of the open pit mines by carving into the earth and transforming a chasm relief into a minescape chamber. This landscape is thus a laboratory that seeks to stimulate and challenge both the mind and the senses. The scale, the materiality and the intimate containment framing the sky provide a garden space that becomes a stage for performances mining and undermining the idea of paradise.

(From competitor's text)

Jury Report

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8 scanned / 3 viewable

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Presentation Panel

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