Castrum festivalSpace design
As part of the end of my first year in visual communication, I completed a project with the Castrum Festival. The aim of the project was to develop a spatial and scenographic concept in the town of Yverdon-les-Bains.
Castrum is a multidisciplinary, participatory festival held in the heart of the old town of Yverdon-les-Bains. This event offers a bold and socially conscious artistic program.
The main theme imposed by the organizer was “water.” This theme makes sense given the location where the Castrum festival is held each year. The project highlights the importance of water for healthy plant growth. The artistic direction draws on the aesthetics generated by forest vegetation. Spectators can discover the art forms that emerge from these threatened ecosystems. Thanks to the various elements that compose the festival, nature reclaims its rightful place in the Yverdon landscape by taking over public spaces.
The Mission
2022
In traditional public spaces, elements are arranged in such a way as to encourage private communication. A large urban table set in the Castrum landscape is a good way to offer a new way of appropriating public space by sharing a convivial moment with others. The furniture echoes the organic aesthetic of the versicolor polypore mushroom.
Street furniture
Castrum already has tents for setting up its stands. Various types of vegetation are added to the structure. The fabric covering the tent features a pattern of tree leaf prints. The process works thanks to the chlorophyll in the leaves settling on the fabric. Ivy curtains are added to three vertical sides of the stand to create fresh spaces. The stand signage is made from forest moss to ensure consistency with the overall project.
Booth
The totems represent the festival's signage. The aim of these installations is to allow plants to express themselves on different media in order to reclaim their place in the landscape. The totems consist of two perforated wooden panels and smaller interchangeable engraved panels.
Totem
The gateways strongly symbolize the entrance to the event and reinforce the overall identity of the festival. In the collective unconscious, having to pass through an opening (such as a door) to access a space is a way of marking two distinct places. The door is symbolized by curtains of ivy; passersby must, in a sense, open the curtain to gain access to the festival.
Portico
Participatory art is an artistic approach in which the public is involved in the creative process, allowing them to become co-authors, editors, and observers of the work. The installation invites visitors to leave their mark on a wall of grass. Wooden graphic elements are created. Visitors can take them and place them on the plant wall. The grass is therefore deprived of light and suffocated under the wooden plaque. After a few hours, it begins to turn yellow. Once the festival is over, all the wooden elements are removed and a pattern in shades of green and yellow is revealed.
