Limen
Lani Maestro
Mediator - Valérie Cudel
Supporters - The Lorraine Regional Nature Park within the framework of the European LEADER program (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development), the Fondation de France within the framework of the New Patrons action, the DRAC Lorraine, the Lorraine region, the Moselle department.
Bataville, Lorraine, France, 2014
The context
The Regional Nature Parks of Lorraine, the Monts d'Ardèche, Pilat and Vercors have decided to conduct a collective reflection on the industrial history of their territories, its changes and ruptures, its impact on the landscapes and the daily life of today's populations. Eight commissions for works were sent to four artists. Lani Maestro has worked in Lorraine and Ardèche.
The Bataville site is a unique industrial and urban complex in Moselle. Its construction began in 1931 on the initiative of Tomáš Bata, founder in 1894 of the Bata industrial group. Bataville had 2700 workers in 1939, 840 in 2001. The relocation of activities in 2002 led to the dismissal of 800 people. Today, some companies are located on the site. The Community of Municipalities of the Pays des étangs is located in the former factory store. The association La Chaussure Bataville wishes to develop a cultural and economic project in collaboration with local authorities. Bataville is entering an intermediate phase of its evolution. How can the living memory of a city organized around factory work and the possibility of other uses coexist?
The commission
Lani Maestro sees her proposal as the "antithesis of the industrial place and work" and as a collective space. Limen - a Latin word meaning "threshold", "passage from one state to another" - is the title of this sculpture. It is an openwork structure composed of a long platform topped by a wooden frame. The shape opens towards the landscape. It evokes the tunnel and the bridge by the regular rhythm of its spans and its function as a passage. The work invites us to walk and rest as "a way of being with ourselves", and is animated by our presence and that of others. It is installed between the old canteen and the production site and leads to a recessed meadow.
Lani Maestro
Born in 1957 in Manila, Philippines, Lani Maestro lives and works in Canada and France. She graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1977 and from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in Halifax in 1989. Since 1979, his work has been shown in exhibitions in North America, Europe and Asia, as well as in the contemporary art biennales of Busan (South Korea), Istanbul, Havana, Shanghai, Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) and Sydney.