13. Implications and applications¶
During natural dyeing, we went around Greenfabric, and I found my idea at that moment.
Obviously, the GreenFabric is connected to the territory. I felt strong links between the place, the people, the patrimony, the trades, the materials…
PROJET: RHIZOME
"Rhizome," as applied to territories, rejects hierarchical boundaries in favor of a dynamic, interconnected network—where spaces, identities, and flows intertwine like roots, forming fluid, decentralized systems that adapt, proliferate, and regenerate through horizontal exchanges, much like the organic layers of A Thousand Plateaus.
I started with the concepts of the rhizome and the plateaus, developed by Gilles Deleuze, philosopher, and Félix Guattari, psychoanalyst and philosopher, to visualize and build my project.
"A Thousand Plateaus" (1980) is the second volume of "Capitalism and Schizophrenia", co-written by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. This groundbreaking work introduces a rhizomatic philosophy, rejecting hierarchical and linear structures to conceptualize the world as a network of fluid, interconnected, and ever-evolving connections.
Key Concepts:
- Rhizome: A non-hierarchical model inspired by plant roots, emphasizing horizontal, decentralized links.
- Plateaus: Each plateau explores a self-contained yet interconnected idea, like geological strata or shifting intensities.
- Becoming: A process of continuous transformation, where identities and forms are never fixed.
- Deterritorialization/Reterritorialization: The dynamic of dismantling and recreating territories, languages, or identities.
- War Machine: A critique of centralized power, inspired by nomadic societies, opposing the rigid state apparatus.
The concept of the rhizome
Metaphor for going beyond the arborescent vision. Arborescent vision models vertical information transfer. The rhizome adds the trays with horizontal information transfers. The trunk is the center, allowing for rapid communication between two entities (for example, the roots and the branches).
The most crucial concept of Guattari is an idea of a relationship with nature and oneself that takes place in a pluralism and following rhizomes, that is to say as a metaphor for the roots of a tree whose underside one explores, and which intertwine with each other to enrich themselves, multiply, form new life cells, stem cells, intertwined cells or poles that can be nourished from the environment or a sheet of water for example: the title Thousand Plateaux evokes the genealogical layers of the earth, stratified and sometimes encountering obstacles like limestone layers or openings like water pockets. The concept does not tell a metaphor in itself. Still, instead of the natural links that grow from one root to another, seeking to attest to links that occur in psychosis as part of a whole, correlation, and interaction, are not harmful or intentional, but well-presented.
More...
Popcast on Deleuze and Guattari, The paths of phylosophy, in French
First person¶
Estelle, 35 years old, graduated in social sciences, she is a project manager and must work in a cultural institution. She is a project manager/project manager MOA.
Project owner (MOA)
The project owner is the project sponsor, the client, on behalf of whom the work is carried out, the project is completed. He is the final client. It is he who defines the specifications – the needs, the budget, the provisional schedule, the objectives to be achieved. He has a role of general project management.
The MOA can be a natural person or a legal person. In the case of museums and exhibitions: State, public institution, local authority, foundation, association, company...
This personne needs help to think and buid specifications for a call for tenders, programms = AMO (Aide à la Maîtrise d'ouvrage): Project Management Assistance
Find my way¶
I start from my experience and my desires.
I follow in the center, activist.
23 years of experience, mother of 2 children, French, and living in Brussels.
1. Working methods
Status as an independent and administrator of an association that designs educational objects based on visuals and/or experimentation. Orders from the heritage federation, temporality LONG
Student at the Art Academy in Flexible materials and textiles. Exposures, temporality LONG
Research in a FabLab (Fabricademy to start) temporality LONG
Advice to clients (institutional) SHORT Mode, on command
2. Fabricademy
- Textiles (sewing / knitting / machine embroidery / natural dyes / Felting...)
- Biomaterials
- Electronics
- 3D printing, laser-cut, CNC
- 3D software, open source
- Fablab Network
3. Interests
- Textile arts
- Materials
- Pedagogy (general public, children)
- territories
- Social link
4. Skills
- Branding
- Art direction, graphic design, illustrator
- visual translation, visualization
- Coordination, project management
- DIY, crafts
- Scenography
- Interior architect, 3D vision
WWWW+H, The Strategic Framework¶
WHY¶
Museographers are at the heart of the cultural sector’s ecological challenges. Their work—designing exhibitions—directly faces climate urgency. Exhibition designs, often temporary, rely on unsustainable materials, non-reusable structures, and energy-intensive equipment, worsening museums’ carbon footprints.
Yet their role is pivotal: balancing creativity, art preservation, and environmental impact reduction.
They must rethink their approaches, embracing eco-design (material reuse, modular setups) while upholding preservation requirements.
Institutions now embed sustainability criteria in tenders, pushing museographers to adopt costlier but greener solutions. They must anticipate these constraints early, collaborating with sustainability experts. Their mission has expanded beyond aesthetics: it now includes waste reduction, resource optimization, and regulatory compliance. A complex but essential shift!
WHO¶
Museography begins with the definition and framing of a project: This task is entrusted to a project leader (project manager, MOA, museographer, curator) or a team. At this stage, a feasibility study is often conducted, including a museographic synopsis. It involves analyzing needs, diagnosing challenges, exploring the subject, venue, and collections, proposing a core concept, defining objectives, and outlining spatial and functional constraints.
Target
- Maîtrise d'ouvrage: Project owner
- Contracting authority
- Museums
- Institutions
- Fondations
Users
- Scenographes
- Artists
- Artisants
- Museographers
- Constructors
Final users
- Visitors
- Students
References:
- Manifesto for the eco-design of permanent and temporary exhibitions
- XPO
- Association: Les Museographes
- Les étapes de définition d'une programmation (FR)
WHERE¶
Creating a museum or an exhibition, enhancing a place, highlighting a territory, a heritage, collections, a story, or even a character, a profession, a theme, a phenomenon...
I will take an example in the Brussels area, around Greenfabric, to establish this perimeter and to think about this notion of territorial limits near us.
More... A territory is at a close intellectual and geographical distance. This notion can be developed.
WHAT¶
According to the logic of the rhizome and the plateaus, this research will allow for better identification and fluidification of internal and external resources, and for their materialization in exhibitions, artistic interventions, meetings... Starting from what I know, the museum, the exhibition for the general public, I transpose these museal notions to apply them to the notion of PLACE.
HOW¶
The field is very vast, I am thinking of the first step, the first deliverable that will allow prototyping the concept on the scale of a Fablab, and 3 months of intellectual and material production.
According to the logic of the rhizome and the plateaus, this research will allow for better identification and fluidification of internal and external resources, and for their materialization in exhibitions, artistic interventions, meetings...
My project is to produce a guide and a prototype of innovative, ecological materials by exploring all the resources of a territory for a project owner, institution, or foundation.
Collecting
- Analysis of places and territory
- Delivery of a charter
- Marking and printing
- Meeting with the actors of the place, the territories
- Collection of materials, waste, and remaining production
Experimentating
- Technical monitoring, permanent development of knowledge
- Organization of data
- Sharing knowledge in open sources
- Documentation
Awareness
- Guideline, moodboard
- videos, reports
Prototyping
- Realization of transformation tests
- Collaboration with artists and transformers
Supporting
- Help with writing the specifications in this field
- Interaction with the creators (scenographers, agency)
Sharing
- Exhibition
- Awareness campaigns (Insta, conferences)
The projet draft¶
Today, I am hosting in a wonderful Fablab, and I need to conduct research by leveraging the place's resources and its territory. The structuring part of a business project, the methods, and the other experimentation, which allows us to validate the techniques and also to show a possible result could be next.
I propose creating a mini exhibition, "RHIZOME," to showcase achievements that combine textile techniques and materials.
I also need to experiment and produce concrete results to understand the process before considering the charter's structure and guidelines.
I will use this collect and prototyping time to document this evolving work. With this path journey, I will be able to write the charter of the RHIZOME concept and define the notion of collection, analysis, transformation...
This first beat can be the start of a process line. After Fabricademy, it would be interesting to open the field to renew this residency experience in new places.
Examples:
3 SOFTS: - textile embroidery + dye + LED - totem knitted - 1 bio-materials with food
2 HARDS: - base in bio materials (Bier sprent grain) - recovery of wood and canvas
Testimony¶
I went to meet several stakeholders in the sector of museums and exhibitions. They allowed me to progress my reflection considerably!
5 references¶
Here are some references gleaned from my exchanges with actors in the sector. It’s just the beginning and I think I’ll review these references in a few days.
Mélinée Faubert She is a scenographer I worked with. She created a podcast about reuse in exhibitions, museums, and performing arts.
At TimeWorld 2023, Mélinée Faubert, AD and scenographer, discussed eco-design in exhibitions, highlighting the art world’s role in driving social and ecological awareness—from Olafur Eliasson’s climate-focused installations to broader institutional responsibility. Rising energy costs push museums and exhibition producers to cut expenses but eco-design offers a holistic solution—integrating sustainability from the outset to minimize environmental impact across the entire lifecycle.
Her method reduces carbon footprints by addressing exhibition duration, artwork selection, material sourcing, and reuse/recycling, ensuring sustainability is embedded in every stage of design and production.
Derived from eggplant peelings, Precious Peels materials offer a surface blending the delicacy of paper with the softness of fabric, reinventing interior decoration. Used in glazing, wall coverings, or bespoke objects, they elevate spaces with elegance and refinement. This innovation merges luxury design, ancestral craftsmanship, and sustainable creativity.
Image: Loumi Le'Floch
Eva Jospin is a renowned French visual artist celebrated for her bold and poetic sculptural work, particularly through her use of cardboard. By transforming this humble, ephemeral material into intricate, monumental pieces, she delves into themes of nature, architecture, and memory.
Romane Poret, Artist Designer, Creator of clothing/accessories/objects in fruit and vegetable peelings.
Image: studio evaporé
Nonprofit organization that promotes and supports a circular and inclusive economy within the cultural, creative, and artisanal sectors.
Since 2008, it has been driving material circularity by offering collection, upcycling, and redistribution services for a wide range of materials from creative industries. As an expert in reuse and valorization, it assists partners in managing end-of-life materials, measuring environmental impact, and fostering change through training and awareness-raising initiatives.
Image: Reserve_des_arts
Images and drawings: Annabel Fournier unless otherwise stated
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